


Pocket Perc'ahlia

by mangocianamarch



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mild Smut, Minor Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, One Shot, Slow Burn, more tags as more work is added, potential spoilers for anyone not yet caught up/still catching up, there will be smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-13 21:22:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 23,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7986667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mangocianamarch/pseuds/mangocianamarch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A running collection of Percy/Vex one-shots as prompted at me on <a href="http://ledamemangociana.tumblr.com/">my Tumblr</a>. There's fluff, there's angst, there's vague smut, there's looking into the future and attempts at being adorable, among other things.</p><p> </p><p> <b>NEW CHAPTERS ADDED [<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/7986667/chapters/19650097">17</a> and <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/7986667/chapters/19652935">18</a>] 11/16/2016 and [<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/7986667/chapters/19671178">19</a>] 11/17/2016</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been in a writing funk for at least two years now. Critical Role has re-awakened my imagination and writing energies, which I'm so eternally grateful for. However, I'm always better prompted than coming up with my own original plot ideas, so if you've got an idea for a prompt for this pairing, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do feel free to send them either [here on my personal blog](http://ledamemangociana.tumblr.com/ask) or [here on my fanfic blog](http://fanficcianawrites.tumblr.com/ask). Thank you in advance, and I do hope you enjoy what you're about to read. If you do, I'd appreciate comments and kudos. If you don't, constructive criticism/tips for making my stuff better is ALWAYS welcome. I've been writing fanfic for at least a decade, but improvement is always the #goal.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vex didn't mean it. Honest!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : whatever you do, don't imagine vex accidentally swatting percy in the face while gesturing and kissing it better_

To be perfectly fair, he really should have known better. Vex telling a story is animated. Vex telling a story while inebriated is mostly a cacophony of barely finished sentences and a whirlwind of limbs and appendages. The more impassioned her story, the farther the reach of her flailing, pointing, air-chopping, gesturing hands. One such hand has just smacked Percy in the face, hard knuckles smacking him square in the nose, her fingers knocking his spectacles askew. He sputters, blinking his surprise back and twitching the slight smarting out of his nose.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Vex exclaims, fingers scrambling to fix his glasses, “I’m sorry, dear, I didn’t mean it!”

“I’m fine, Vex,” Percy assures her, laughing at her somewhat desperate attempts at rectifying the accident, “It’s alright.”

“I got you in the face!” Vex states, both of her palms on his cheeks now.

“My face is fine, madam,” Percy chuckles.

Vex clicks her tongue. “No, it isn’t,” she insists, grabbing him by the chin to turn his face towards hers.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Percy snorts.

Vex tries again to secure his glasses, giving him a tipsy smile when she thinks she has managed it. “There we go,” she sighs.

“I don’t -” Percy begins to say, but then Vex, hands on either side of his face, leans forward and plants a tiny kiss on the tip of his nose, cutting him off mid-thought.

“Better?” she asks, grinning at him.

Unsure if the warmth rising to his cheeks is merely a result of his own inebriation or his body’s natural response to…that, Percy swallows slow, blinking a little as if his vision had blurred. He reaches up and straightens his spectacles, staring at her expectant smile.

“Much,” he admits, “Er…thanks.”

Vex lets go of him then, apparently rather proud of herself for having diffused the situation (as if there was a need for it). “Good,” she sing-songs, grabbing her tankard by the handle and taking a huge swig, “Now, where was I? There was a thing about a vault…Ah, yes! So, Vax is trying to pick these locks, right…”

And although Percy moves his chair an inch or two further from her, there is the ghost of a smirk in the corner of his mouth as he watches Vex dramatically narrate the rest of her story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy ponders what vexes Vex enough to cause her tears. [EP 59 spoilers]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Heyyy, here's a thought: Percy finds Vex's greed endearing, the one thing people scold her most for. Because when you love someone, you love their flaws as well. And he sees the survival instinct behind it, understands that it comes from a place of true need and fear, as opposed to just being about having gold for gold's sake. As you were._

Percival, the man of science that he is, has always had a rather uncontrollable urge to apply logic to _everything_. From Grog’s specific intelligences to Pike’s unerring, unwavering care, from Vax’s broodiness to Keyleth’s moodiness, from Scanlan’s…well, Scanlan’s _everything_ , honestly. For Vex, in particular, the one thing Percy has never needed to question is her proclivity for gold.

Percy has never felt the urge or need to judge Vex’s love of money. He was even sincere in his agreement when Vax had sarcastically called it “endearing,” has always truly found it to be. He has found himself even thankful for it, for what the others call her “greed,” because without the control she has on the group’s finances, gold would not be the only thing they would perhaps be in sore need of on a constant basis. And - if there are any gods to judge him for this, then so be it - the way her face lights up at the sight or mention of gold to procure is… _charming_. (There are, perhaps, far better words for it, but this is all he can come up with for now.)

Percy understands, or he thought he did, anyway. Vex does not come _from_ money, has had to come _by_  it, unlike he. He has wealth of his own, technically does not need to work or scrounge for it, but Vex has had to scrape by and make do with what she could get. It would make sense, would it not, that one who has had less would cling tighter when they have more? Money is barely an object to Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski De Rolo III, Lord of Whitestone; if Vox Machina somehow runs out while on the road, a quick trip to the town’s treasury would be a quick, temporary fix. Money has little value in Percy’s hands, but it has always glowed in Vex’ahlia’s.

So it makes sense, does it not, that she would be “greedy” for gold? For anything they could spend on both necessity and whim, for anything they can save and keep to ensure Vox Machina maintains some sort of standing and repute in the circles they find themselves in?

It made sense that way, until tonight.

Percy watches Vex. Watches her vibrance be quieted. Watches hands usually so sure and sturdy with her bows fidget and wring together as if against cold. Watches a gaze usually so sharp and piercing on targets flit from one object to another, never on him. Watches a stance usually so straight and square become slumped and heavy with a burden he can’t yet see.

“We were judged growing up,” Vex says quietly, eyes everywhere but on him as she asks if she looks like she comes from money, confesses a weakness that Percy suspects not even her own brother has ever been party to, and then Percy feels _awful_. He was right, it seems, but also wrong, so very wrong, and momentarily he is glad Vex has never heard his musings of her out loud, or this would be another injustice he would owe her penance for.

Percy’s logic has been wrong all along, because his logic was that gold is _precious_  to Vex, that she values gold.

But logic is not always truth, and the truth is that it is _Vex_  that should feel precious, that it is _Vex_  that should feel valued. 

“It’s not important,” Vex says, and Percy disagrees.

So Percival tries truth. He tells her truthfully that money will not be what earns the respect of those they will meet in Syngorn. He tells her truthfully that money and riches bring misery, that it is all easily taken. He tells her truthfully that it would be simple to falsify her appearance.

“I’ve known a lot of people with money,” he says truthfully, “And they are _definitely_  not worth you.”

 _That_  is right. That is the truth. Because money is material. Gold changes hands, dulls with the wear and tear of time, loses value as the years go by. Gold is not worth Vex, Vex hasn’t dulled. Vex’ahlia is strong and confident, elegant and sturdy, brave and clever. 

This is how Percy has always known her. He knows little to nothing of the years she spent growing up amongst apparent arrogance, or of the time she spent on her own in the woods, with no one to see or appreciate her shine. He knows only of the Vex’ahlia he has long traveled and adventured with, the one who has slashed and danced and winked her way to survival in harsh conditions, only to come out shinier. He knows of the Vex’ahlia who called out his name and reminded him that he is more than his demons, the Vex’ahlia who fell off the edge of death and came back, her luster intact. Hands that he has seen close tightly around coins, he has felt warm and comforting on his shoulders and hands. He has heard her growl threats at hostiles and bargain stiffly with merchants from the same lips that have often kissed his cheeks softly and gently in gratitude.

This is the Vex that Syngorn must see, _will_  see. The Vex that shines. The Vex he knows. The Vex he finds precious and invaluable. 

She seems satisfied when he agrees to be by her side while they’re there, but even as he bids her goodnight and turns away, the gears in his head have begun to whirl and work, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he hears himself chuckle teasingly; This isn’t so much for Syngorn as it is for Vex herself, isn’t it?

He’s going to show her. He’s going to prove to her what her true worth is, flaws and all. He’s going to drop a bomb, and he will show her the Vex he sees, brilliant and beautiful. He will show Vex her true value, and show her that the gold in her pocket can only hope to shine half as bright as she.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Feywild magic screwed things up royally and sent Percy and Vex into a very particular future? (NOT ACTUALLY A WHOLE FIC)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Imagine that when they leave the Feywild shit happens & they accidentally arrive in the future. As they try to find their way back to the past, they go to Whitestone where they bump into the new Lady - Percy & Vex's only kid._

okaY OHMYGOD i’m coming at this as someone who has not yet been able to start catching up on canon D&D lore so i know next to nothing about how the feywild ACTUALLY work, so approach this with that thought in mind

also this may actually turn into a fic project somewhere down the line because _vex and percy’s **kid**  _omg

  * it happens when vex goes up to the sick tree and grabs the bow, something happens, there’s a big huge explosion and the next thing they know, percy is waking up on the ground in some woods, vex is crying by a tree because she woke first and thought percy was dead and she had no way to bring him back and didn’t even know where the others are, but after percy reassures her that he’s okay and she’s okay, they try to find their way out of the woods in hopes of finding the others
  * that’s when they run into an apparent hunting party, also coming out of the woods, bearing something heavy on flat wagon, and when percy calls out to them, they circle around, like that scene in “lord of the rings: the two towers” and gUESS WHO’S LEADING THE HUNTING PARTY
  * lady penelope vanora kadri aurelia de rolo, daughter of percival and vex’ahlia, rulers of whitestone. _but you can call her penny._
  * she has long brown hair with a shock of white running down the left side, and steely grey eyes and familiar dimples, and there is a long-arm of sorts slung on her back.
  * she asks who they are, and neither percy or vex are able to make sense of anything, but when vex speaks, the thing on the flatwagon moves and starts grunting and growling and whining anD OHMYGOD WHAT WHAT TRIN _KET OMGWHAT_  so vex casts Speak With Animals so she can talk with him, and he tells her he doesn’t know what happened, he just knows there was an explosion and then he was falling really fast and landed really hard and now he’s hurting, but these people found him and they realized something was wrong so they were on their way back to town to see if they could help him.
  * of course everyone else is just hearing this series of grunts and growls and things aND THIS STRANGE LADY HAVING A LEGITIMATE CONVERSATION WITH A GODDAMN BEAR THEY JUST FOUND IN THE WOODS WHAT THE FUCK and if it weren’t for that, lady penny wouldn’t have believed she was staring at her parents.
  * she grabs them both in a tight hug and is crying. “it’s been so long! what happened to you?! where have you been?! are you hurt?! why do you look so…young? i mean, you both look pretty okay usually but you look years younger and??? this is confusing!!! was it a spell that someone cast on you??? ugh, that’s not important - did you find what you were looking for?! father, did my present to you help in any way at all? you don’t have it on you, did you lose it? mother, what about the present i gave you? how come neither of you have them?! i made them special for you both and – ohno, did they break?! dang it, i KNEW they weren’t good enough, but i didn’t have _time_ , you were leaving anD I NEEDED TO JUST MAKE SURE YOU’D THINK OF ME AND –”
  * okay what. the fuck.
  * it’s not often that percival fredrickstein von mussel klossowski de rolo iii is struck speechless, unfortunately, this is one of those times. so it’s vex who has to explain that neither she nor percy have any idea what she’s talking about, she can’t be _their_  daughter, neither of them are old enough to have a daughter her age (“but mother, i just turned 19 the other week, don’t you remember?!”), and besides, to have a child together, they would’ve been married, and she and percy aren’t…er…together…like that…ah…uhm… _ahem_ …
  * poor penny is confused, but when she tries to press them further, there’s a sudden clap of thunder, and a young man from within the hunting party comes up and says they need to get back to the castle, because his mother would throw a fit _again_  if she finds him riding through the rain again
  * “ugh, this is important, auntie cassandra just worries about you a lot because you’re a momma’s boy”
  * AUNTIE!!!! CASSANDRA????
  * but then trinket whimpers and vex remembers that he’s hurt and ohno what happened to him, can we help him? penny says they should get him to the castle, and percy and vex should come along, because now everyone’s got questions that need answering.
  * whitestone is whitestone, but somewhat better. the evidence of what happened still lingers, maybe because the memories linger with vex and percy, and maybe because they can remember what it was like as it was rebuilding. it looks to have been thriving, with majority of the city back on its feet and looking somewhat like the whitestone percy grew up in. it makes percy emotional.
  * they get to the castle and guess who’s visiting that’s right it’S ALLURA AND KIMA YAYYYY!!!!! allura realizes right away upon seeing percy and vex that something is off, and as penny gets help for trinket, allura and kima take the two aside to speak with them. percy and vex are glad to see someone familiar, and to know that they know right away that something happened. vex explains to allura what happened to them, or at least what they remember last happening, and allura explains to them that this is an effect of a spell that protects Fenthras from falling into the wrong hands. basically, the bow has sent them through the planes and into a different time, a future, not _the_  future. not that it’s real, but there is a possibility of it happening. why _this_  particularly future is being shown to them, allura doesn’t know, but she wonders that perhaps the bow, or the magic protecting it, want percy and vex to see what could come to pass, and to prove that they are worthy of it, or if perhaps they need to change something in it to make themselves worthy of the bow. it’s all a lot of information to take in, so she suggests that percy and vex get some rest here in their castle.
    * “their castle” tho. percy blushes a bit and vex chokes a little on her next exhale.
  * as they rest, they find out a bit more about what has been going on.
    * cassandra married two years before percy and vex did, but did not have her son alexius until after percy and vex had penelope.
    * the chroma conclave had been defeated many years ago.
    * syldor made good on his words and gave an army to help battle the chroma conclave. however, he himself had not survived those last few wars against the dragons, and had given his life to protect his family and his people. his wife and daughter relocated to whitestone on the insistence of percy, and that was where velora would grow up strong, quick and witty.
    * future!percy and future!vex, as it turned out, had married just a couple or so years after the chroma conclave had officially been defeated. the first two or three years of their new life together had been spent working on getting whitestone back on its feet, with vex building up the house and money that hadn’t come with her title when percy first bestowed it on her. she had apparently not really banked on having children, but when penny was born, her outlook had changed significantly. still, they had stopped at penny, but no one knew if there were any specific reassons for this.
    * the last anyone had heard of future!vox machina, they were all alive. pike was with her significant other in vasselheim, tending to the followers of sarenrae, with grog at her service and protection. scanlan never found anyone else to settle with, but had reconnected with kaylie, and although he lives in whitestone as a revered hero, he sometimes joins her and her traveling group just to have some fun performing with them. vax and keyleth lived with the ashari, helping them rebuild as percy and vex worked hard to help rebuild whitestone.
    * that, of course, was all before future!vex and future!percy were called away to heaven knows where, to do heaven knows what. this was nearly a year ago, it was all very secret, and there was no guarantee that they would be successful, or that they would even return. but it had apparently been very, very important for them both, or they wouldn’t have gone.
  * allura helps explain everything to penny, who at first is saddened by the thought that there is a possibility that percy and vex would never even get together, much less have her. 
  * penny tells percy and vex that she has lived a happy life, that the percy and vex that have raised her are loving, caring, protective parents, and she looks up to them so much. from percy, she has inherited a love for knowledge and tinkering and inventing, and from vex, her sharp wit and eyes, and a soft spot for animals. (she even named her horse Bear because _of course she did._ )
  * penny takes them both to the workshop, percy’s workshop, now his and his daughter’s, and shows them versions of what ended up being her gifts to her parents. she shows percy her weapon - she has basically invented this world’s first rifle. percy, who at this point has only ever made hand guns, is vastly intrigued and impressed, and is taken aback that he could ever produce someone who can come up with something like this. “there are countless things in the life i’ve lived that i am not and cannot be proud of,” he says, “but if this future is true, then you are definitely one of the few things in my life i can truly claim as an achievement.”
    * “that’s almost exactly what Father said when i gave him the rifle i made for him.”
  * for vex, penny had designed what is essentially a pump-action, lightweight, handheld crossbow, something she can easily wield with one hand and fire with a trigger, and easy to aim and fire from high places. penny shows her the plans she has made for a special surprise bow she wanted to give her mother for her nameday, something a bit more old-fashioned, but nevertheless elegant and familiar. vex is reduced to tears; she just hugs penny, and tells her she’s unbelievable.
  * the rest of present!vox machina all turn up in batches at the castle, vax and keyleth coming from one place, scanlan from another and grog from yet another. percy, vex and allura fill them in on what they know, and when they get to the part about penny and penny’s parents, vax’s face becomes unreadable and keyleth can’t keep a smile off her face. when present!VM finally meet penny, they’re all pleasantly flabbergasted because hOW DID PERCY AND VEX NOT KNOW SHE WAS THEIR DAUGHTER, THE RESEMBLANCE IS UNCANNY. there’s even a brief argument about who penny looks more like.
  * getting down to business, someone suggests that they try to find Fenthras, because if that’s what sent them here, it could send them back. penny is somewhat reticent to let them leave, but she knows she has to, or there would be even less possibility of this future becoming a reality. luckily, fenthras is kept in the castle’s vault, like a special museum exhibit or something, and penny is able to lead them to it.
  * when vex takes the bow, nothing happens at first, and the party is disappointed, but then it starts to glow, and then there is a voice.
    * “talking weapons? fuCK. THAT.” says grog
  * it calls vex “unclean, fettered down by the burden of your worries and flaws, sickened by the poison of the aches you let linger, the sorrow you allow to make you feel without worth.” it asks vex if she is happy with the future she has been shown, if she thinks it is of any worth. when vex says yes, it asks what of her burdens she is willing to let go of to make this future more possible than others. it instructs her to not say the words out loud, to think her answer only in her heart and mind, the truest places of her.
  * whatever her answers are, it works, and when vex opens her eyes, they’re back in the feywild, asleep on the ground, and the bog is now a lake and the once sick tree is healthy and whole. percy congratulates her and gives her a hug, tells her that he had faith in her.
  * some time later, keyleth speaks with percy, and at first she teases him about the future they were thrown into, but she stops teasing when percy reminds her that he’s not the only one of them to have ended up together with one of the twins. keyleth turns serious, and tells him that if he’s interested in vex, he shouldn’t shun those feelings. he doesn’t have to act on them, but he shouldn’t just dismiss them or try to explain them away. keyleth thinks it makes him happy, or at least less sad, and he hasn’t had a lot of good, happy things in his life, he should hold on to the good things and let himself be happy and to let himself indulge in the happy moments they have because they come far and few in between. 
  * later, percy approaches vex, who stammers a little but promises there isn’t any pressure, that she knows that was one of many possible futures, that he doesn’t need to feel like it _had_ to come true or anything, not that she wouldn’t mind if it did, but percy, you –
  * – he cuts her off with a kiss to her forehead, and a gentle promise to let things between them run their course.
  * it’s not often that vex blushes, but she blushes a little then, and percy teases her a bit for it, and they laugh together and it’s cute and comforting, and wow, that was a helluva lot to go through for a dang magic bow.




	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neither Percy nor Vex really ever sleeps peacefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Perc'ahlia, comforting after a nightmare_

Vex’ahlia rarely ever sees her dreams, but when she does, they are terrible. She dreams of bows bending and arrows flying, but where they land, she cannot see, cannot hear, cannot know if they even hit anything. She dreams of fire, of people screaming and running, of fresh, wet grass turning to hard, dry pebbles beneath her toes. She dreams of spears skewering a little bear, her brother’s hand slipping out of her grip, and sharp, gleaming teeth chomping her mother in half. She dreams of gilded stone walls leaking blood, and of towering smoke that hungers. She calls out to the smoke, but no voice leaves her throat. A pale hand reaches for her, and she tries to take hold, but it grabs her, pulls her in, and the darkness consumes her too, and only then does she hear her screaming in her own ears.

Vex wakes from her nightmares in a cold sweat and short of breath, fingers flexing of their own accord beneath and on the sheets. Her throat is dry and irritated, and it isn’t until Percy bends over her to kiss her forehead and whisper that she had screamed herself awake again that she realizes why that is. She turns away, somewhat embarrassed, tells him she’s fine. She isn’t, and he knows, and she knows that he knows. So when she feels him run a hand along her arm, light but soothing, when she feels his lips on her temple, she takes comfort. By now, he knows where to touch her, how to touch her, to remind her that there is more to her story than what her mind shows her in her sleep, and she becomes pious just long enough to thank any deity that might be listening that he does. And when he wraps an arm around her again to draw her close, shushing her as he pulls her flush against his chest, she goes willingly. “I’m here,” he tells her, “I’m not going anywhere,” and she turns in his arms to let his very solid, very real embrace consume her.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Percival always sees his dreams, and when he does, they are usually terrible. He dreams of mangled gun barrels and empty gun chambers he cannot fix, of bullet holes he doesn’t remember making. He dreams of dank, dark dungeons with no doors or windows, of a creaking, leaking ship’s hull rocking to and fro in violent, stormy waters. He dreams of his sister falling back and behind and down, of Sylas and Delilah beheading the rest of his family with a single slice. He dreams of crimson crawling across white stones, of sinister, disembodied voices laughing as they tempt him towards the dark. He dreams of a chest gleaming with gold, and when he reaches out to touch a piece, there is an explosion of light, and when things settle again he is instead touching _her_ , her eyes staring wide, looking without seeing, a large, smoking hole in her chest where her heart should be.

Percy wakes from his nightmares with a gasp and a choke, bolting upright in bed as the last of his yell leaves his mouth. He looks around in a panic, trying to re-orient himself and shake himself of his dreams, and it isn’t until Vex kisses his shoulder, one hand climbing gently up his bare back as she asks if he’s alright, that he’s able to bring himself out of his own memories. He’s sorry, and she knows, and he knows that she knows. He sighs heavy, slumping over as he brings her hand from his shoulder to his lips, and she touches her forehead to his temple and lets out a quiet little giggle for his benefit. By now she knows what to say, when to say, to remind him that he is becoming better than he thinks he used to be, and he wonders what good he might’ve done in his life to deserve her in it. And when she pulls him down to lay against her, her lips sweet against his with their greed for his kiss, he goes willingly. “I’m here,” she tells him, “I’m not going anywhere,” and he settles against her as best he can, his ear pressed above her chest where her heart is.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vex has called Percy grumpy in the mornings, but then what does that make Vex?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Perc'ahlia “It is not morning yet.” Pls Omg_

Vex stirs with a protesting groan when the bed dips underneath her. She doesn’t have to open her eyes to know what’s going on. Still on her front, she lazily stretches out her arm, and, true to her skills, it finds her target. Still sleepy, the squeeze she tries to give him is half-arsed, but the determination is clear.

“Vex,” Percy mumbles, a tinge of amusement in his tone, “Come on, dear.”

“Don’t ‘dear’ me,” Vex replies, half-muffled by her pillow, “It’s not morning yet.”

“It isn’t, no,” Percy agrees, and he brings her wrist to his lips for a gentle kiss, “But we said we’d be up early so we can move sooner.”

Vex groans again, more annoyed this time. “Fuck _moving_ ,” she says, “Let’s just…ugh, let’s just _stay here_.”

“The manor would spit us out, love,” Percy points out, slowly moving his lips higher along her arm.

“Then we’ll sleep on the damn ground,” Vex answers, trailing off into a little sigh when Percy’s feather-light kiss finds a particularly sensitive spot just below her shoulder.

“In nothing but our skins?” Percy’s mouth is slightly more insistent now on her shoulder blades and her nape, an almost complete contrast to his arguments.

Vex chuckles into her pillow. “That’d be a sight, eh?” she says, “My brother would get so pissed off, all the feathers on him would stand on end.”

Percy echoes her laugh into her hair. “Much as the sight would _definitely_  be something to write home about,” he answers, “Pissing your brother off is not a prospect I’d ever particularly aim for.” He kisses the tip of her ear, her cheekbone, and when he goes for her nose, she turns and buries it into her pillow. She laughs, having evaded him, and he laughs along with her. The smile she sees on him when she turns to him again is soft, gentle, loving. Vex reaches up and touches his cheek.

“I love you,” she tells him.

“…But?” Percy prods.

“…But I hate you for waking me before the sun is even out,” she continues, “Especially after last night…”

Vex revels in the slight blush that rises to Percy’s face. “Not my fault you’re delicate, milady,” he tries to shoot back.

“I am _not_  delicate,” Vex says, flicking his nose a little, “ _You’re_  just greedy.”

“Mmm, and you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, darling?” Percy retaliates.

“Shut the fuck up, Percival,” Vex snorts, leaning in to kiss him. Percy draws her flush, half on him, and Vex grins against his lips.

“Good morning, love.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy's scars run deeper than his skin. Thankfully, Vex doesn't mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : "You look beautiful/ handsome in the moon light" and perc'ahlia for the fluff prompt_

“You really are quite handsome in the moonlight, you know.”

As gentle and lilting as Vex’s voice usually is, it still makes Percy jump, although he can hardly be blamed, especially not in _this_  particular circumstance.

“Sweet suns of Pelor, Vex’ahlia!” Percy gasps, instinctively crossing his arms in front of himself, the cold of the lake biting into his skin again, “I was under the impression that I was _alone_  out here!”

“Yes, because any one of us going off _on our own_ in the middle of the night is such a _wise_ thing to do,” Vex retorts, tone dripping with sarcasm.

Percy purses his lips at her. “I needed a bath,” he explains.

Even with the distance between them, he can see Vex trying to fight down a smirk. “Well, I wasn’t going to _say_ anything…” she jokes, and if Percy were anyone else, he’d have flipped her off for it, “I think I’m a little offended that you didn’t invite me to join you, darling.”

Ah, this little nugget of fun. Percy finds himself dipping lower under the surface of the water. “I never do though,” he points out.

“No, you really don’t,” Vex confirms, “And I’ve always wondered why, I’ve just never had an opening to ask. Until now, that is.”

If Percy takes a step further away from her, further into the water, he doesn’t do it consciously. “I don’t guarantee an answer if you do,” he tells her honestly, looking away.

He hears the water rippling, and realizes Vex is stepping in. There’s a bit of distance to cover, but she treks through the cold of the lake, clothes and all. _Towards_  him. It’s this thought that, for whatever reason, keeps him from moving away.

“Percival,” Vex says, gentle and barely above a whisper, “You _know_  there’s more to my curiosity about it. I’m not asking why you don’t want me in the same space as you; I’m asking why you don’t really like being seen naked.”

Percy shrugs. “You’ve _seen_  me naked, dear,” he replies, “Several times.”

“Have I really though?” Vex asks, “I’ve seen you naked in the _dark_ , never in the light. You seem to avoid that on purpose. I’ve always wondered why.”

Percy says nothing. Vex isn’t unintelligent. If she doesn’t already know, she’s probably already figured it out. She always was able to read him like a book.

Vex reaches a hand out, lightly touches the scars running up his left arm. “It’s these, isn’t it?” she says, and her fingers trace along the branching, lightning-like marks and welts left by Diplomacy, up his forearm and across an old scar along his collarbone. “These things. You’ve been hiding them.”

“Perhaps,” says Percy, because she is clever and he is hard-headed, “Can I be blamed though?”

Vex steps closer, the otherwise calm water around them rippling about her. Her hand continues moving, down his chest now where a long, thin line reminds him of a time before she met him, before she saved him. “Are you ashamed of these, Percy?” Vex asks quietly, gaze following the progress of her hand, which is now brushing a little lower, across a healed cut that runs a few inches along his waist.

“Not of them, no,” he answers.

The look on her face when she turns up at him again tells him she understands. Her other hand comes up to soothe at his cheek. “Oh, darling,” she sighs, “My darling Percival…”

“I can hardly leave my past behind when it has marked my body permanently,” he tells her.

“Considering what your past was like,” Vex offers, “I don’t think you _could_  leave it behind even without these. But that’s hardly the point, is it, dear? The point is that they are here, _on_  you, a _part_  of you, as much as your past will always be part of who you are.”

Percy shakes his head. “I am haunted, Vex,” he huffs, “By everything that I went through. These marks, these scars, all they do is remind me of what I was, where I was, before you. I have no love for them.”

“You don’t have to love them, Percy,” Vex says, “But you don’t have to hate them either. If you think me seeing them makes me think any less of you, or makes you anything less than what you are, you are dead wrong. I have seen the worst of you, and the good in you, and I know that the best of you is yet to come, and I know that the best of you is better than what you think you are _because_  of what left these marks on you.”

Her hand stops above his heart, and the look on her face softens into a plea of sorts, and Percy feels a little bad now.

“I’ve only ever known you with scars, Percy,” Vex reminds him, “And yet I’m still here. I’m _right here_ , Percy, with you. Can you see me?”

A strange question. He reaches for her, one wet hand stroking along her hair. “Of course I can,” he answers, “I see you, Vex’ahlia.”

“And I see you, Percival,” she says, a loving smile on her face as she cuddles into the touch of his palm, “I see all of you. And I love all of you. You’ve nothing to be ashamed of with me. Not your past. Not your scars. Do you understand me?”

She looks up at him with such sincere affection that it hurts his heart. He has no words, so instead he kisses her, one of her hands still over his heart while the other crawls along his side and to his back to hold him close.

When Percy pulls away, the taste of her lingering on his lips, he touches his forehead to hers. “You are delightful,” he sighs, “An absolute treasure. I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“Mmmm, call me ‘treasure’ again,” Vex hums, and Percy laughs and kisses her again. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vex has somewhat unique ways of coping with waking up alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Perc'ahlia “I might have slept with your robe when you were gone.” please I need this_

The sun is high and bright in the sky by the time Percy, Vax and Grog arrive back at the castle, Vax just a little worse for wear, Grog unable to stop smiling through the blood and guts spattered all over his face. Considering what the three of them had met out there, considering what it ended up _becoming_  after the three of them had milked it of information - and innards, subsequently - Percy finds himself rather glad that he hadn’t worn his coat when he’d snuck out. He does rather like that coat.

Scanlan and Keyleth are the first to meet them, and almost immediately Grog launches into the story of the evening they had spent. Scanlan is enraptured, of course, Keyleth a little less so as she casts a healing spell on Vax to clean him up (there’s such a soft look of affection on Vax’s face that it almost makes Percy balk).  In the slight uproar of Grog’s spirited retelling of the night’s activities, Percy almost doesn’t realize that someone is missing. _Almost_ , because as he happens to turn towards the stairway leading up to the rooms, he sees Vex standing there, at the top of the flight, hair undone and unruly, brows furrowed, one hand over her chest, keeping his coat closed over her.

 _His coat_.

It isn’t often that Percy finds himself struck speechless, but here he is, with his voice catching in his throat and his tongue unable to form words. _What a wonder._

“Where were you?” Vex asks, more worried than angry, and Percy wonders when she had come down the stairs to join him, “Why didn’t you wake me? I should have gone with you.”

“You really shouldn’t have, darling, believe me,” Percy replies, “I don’t really want to get into it, but trust me when I say you were far better off staying here, sleeping.”

“But I _barely slept_ , Percival,” Vex tells him, “You woke me when you left and I’ve just been awake since then, worrying my arse off because you left your bloody earring and I couldn’t fucking contact you.”

He will always be amused at how softly and gently she can enunciate such vulgarity. “You were _worried_  about me?” he teases, “That means you _care_  about me. Oh, how _embarrassing._ How can you _live_  with yourself, dear?”

“Oh, well if you put it _that_  way,” Vex huffs, turning her nose up and beginning to stomp off. Percy laughs, catching her with an arm around her waist as he pulls her to him again.

“I’m teasing, love, just teasing!” he says, and even as he chuckles, Vax makes retching sounds somewhere behind him, “I’m sorry I worried you, I didn’t mean to. It was just something that we had to take care of.”

“I’m sure it was,” says Vex, casting a quick glance at Grog’s bloodied grin, “But we take care of things _together_. As a _family_. Remember?”

“I remember,” Percy concedes, kissing her forehead, “Next time, we’ll sneak off into the dark and face evil headlong together, I promise.”

“Good,” Vex replies, burrowing into his chest.

“Change of subject, then,” Percy offers, “Why are you wearing my coat?”

Percy feels her fingers tighten somewhat on the flesh of his back. “That isn’t much of a subject change, darling,” she answers, “I waited for you to come back, you know. Thought maybe you’d just gone for a drink, or a mid-night tinker to clear your head, or whatever. But when you didn’t, and when I saw you’d left your earring, I…Well…I fell asleep in your coat.”

Percy tries to ignore the tug of guilt somewhere in his chest. “Oh Vex,” he breathes, because the concept of someone being _this_  worried about him is still so _alien_  to him.

“I don’t even know why I put on this bloody thing,” Vex continues, “It’s a little heavy, not really my colour, and it smells of metal and gunpowder. But I saw it there, and I just…put it on.”

“It’s rather warm,” Percy points out, not even fighting to keep the smile off his face.

“It is though,” Vex agrees, ending with a tiny sigh, “It’s stupid, isn’t it? Of all the things to do, I did _this_. I could’ve gone out and looked for you to help you or whatever, but no, I decided to stay here and fucking  _wallow_. Stupid.”

Percy pulls away only enough to cup her face in his hands. “The word you’re looking for is ‘silly,’ darling, not ‘stupid,’” he tells her, “Because you _are_  silly. And sweet, and clever, and thoughtful, and sharp. Not stupid. Never stupid.”

“Also sickening,” Vax inputs, “ _Very_  sickening. Get a room, you two.”

“Not a bad idea, Vax,” Vex retorts, turning then to Percy, “I’ll race you to _his_  room. Last one to get naked gives Trinket a bath.”

Vax protests loudly, of course, and Vex just laughs into Percy’s chest. Percy holds her close, loving the sound of her, the warmth of her.

“My brother is an asshole,” Vex snorts, and Percy chortles.

“Yes, how _dare_  he stop us from desecrating his bed,” he agrees, “We are in luck, however, because we have a bed of our own that we can ruin.”

“Ooh, let’s _not_ ruin it,” Vex answers, “I like that bed, it’s _bouncy_.”

“That it is,” Percy says with a little nod, “We can at least test _that_  out, yes? An experiment to confirm this hypothesis of ours?”

Vex giggles. “Sure, Percival,” she answers, “Why the hell not.”

Percy feels the smirk on his face change, and when he looks down at Vex, he sees a different twinkle in her eyes. Something hungry.

“Get yourself upstairs then, I’ll follow,” he tells her, “…Keep the coat on.”

Vex winks at him as she saunters off, putting a deliberate sway to her hips as she walks past Vax, who promptly balks in her direction.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If this is what Percy always gets when he wakes up sick, it might not be so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Shush and go back to bed/I was awake anyway/would you like me to rub your back?/I think I love you - Perc'ahlia_

When Vex pushes the bedroom door open with her back, the tea tray gripped tightly in both hands, she finds Percy sitting up in bed, his back towards the door. She tsks, and Percy gives her a quick glance and a small smile.

“Go back to bed, you,” she chastises gently, walking over carefully, “You shouldn’t be sitting up yet.”

Percy shrugs as he finishes knotting the ties of his sleeping robe. “I’m fine,” he replies, nonchalant, “I’ve been awake a couple of hours already anyway.”

Vex slowly, gingerly sets the tea tray down, climbs back onto the bed. “Are you still in pain?” she asks as she crawls closer to him on her knees, “Is that what woke you?”

Percy rubs at his temples before reaching for his spectacles. “Yes and no, honestly,” he answers, “Felt you moving around.”

“Eurgh,” Vex groans, “Sorry, darling.” She plants a little kiss on his shoulder, which immediately gives her a different idea. “Would you like me to rub your back, dear?”

“ _What_?” Percy asks, falsetto and falsely shocked, “And make you use your dainty little hands on my ruinous, ruined flesh? Dear lady, I couldn’t! I wouldn’t _dare_.”

Vex swats him on the arm, and Percy laughs, one arm clutching at his side to brace where Vex knows he took the brunt of the impact in the fight. “Seriously though,” Vex says, “I could get some hot water, might help with some of the ache and sting until Pike or Keyleth can help again?”

Percy says nothing at first, but then reaches for her. Vex offers her hand to him, and he takes her by the wrist and tugs at her. “Come here,” he says, quiet, soft. She realizes what he wants, and is careful as she moves around him and off the bed. He pulls her to him, wrapping his arms around her hips and giving her stomach a kiss over her clothes. Vex still feels the warmth of it against her skin, and it makes her sigh, her bottom lip between her teeth.

“I have a problem, Vex’ahlia,” Percy says, looking up at her, the hint of a smile in the corner of his mouth.

Vex circles her arms around his neck, the fingers of one hand playing with the hair at his nape. “Have you now?” she asks in reply, “What problem might that be, Percival?”

“I think I might love you,” he answers, and Vex chuckles, shaking her head, “Yes, as a matter of fact, I’m afraid I certainly do.”

“Why the shit would that be a problem?” Vex retorts, as falsely indignant as he was shocked a while ago.

Percy laughs too, tightens his embrace around her a little. “Because, dear one,” he says, and Vex sees the expression in his eyes soften, “I don’t know that I deserve you in my life, let alone be blessed enough with the opportunity to love you.”

Vex shakes her head again, tapping at his nose with a finger. “Shush, you,” she tells him, “You’re wonderful, alright? Every last bit of you. You’re golden.”

“And you are more,” Percy says, the look on his face so loving that Vex feels her heart actually hurt, “So much more.”

She answers him with a kiss, as deep as she can manage, and she feels him smile against her lips. But when she tries to move into him a little more, he hisses, and she pulls away.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Percy grumbles unhappily, and Vex kisses into his hair instead.

“Seriously though,” she says, palms on his cheeks, “Back rub. Yay or nay, Lord Percival of Whitestone?”

He sighs heavy, his entire body moving with it. “Yay,” he answers, frustrated, “Very yay.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy's demons may be a little bit more than Vex can handle. Thankfully, Percy has experience. (BRIARWOODS ARC AND EP 57 MILD SPOILERS)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : "I’ll be here to protect you.”- Percy/Vex/Orthax_
> 
> **NOTE** : this is a speculative AU of Orthax possessing Vex, based on a vague idea from Percy's conversation with the Raven Queen in ep57 that Orthax may not be entirely gone/may come back.

The ease with which she pulls back the string of her bow should worry her. The clarity of her sight as she aims her arrow should alert her. The sharpness of the flight of her weapon, and the strength of its impact into her quarry’s shoulder, especially at the distance it had to cover, should frighten her.

But she doesn’t feel much of anything right now, other than the abject anger throbbing in her head. There is heat behind her eyes as they zero in on the writhing body of her target as he tries to crawl away, her arrow embedded in him from behind and out the front. Her steps are slow and threatening, a predator on the hunt closing in on wounded prey. She doesn’t hear the wind rushing past her through the trees, doesn’t hear Trinket letting out low whines of worry and falling back, doesn’t hear the crunching of dead leaves under her imposing stride as she inches closer…closer…

_Closer…closer…He hurt your friends…He hurt your brother…Do not let him leave…Do not let him live…_

Vex fires another arrow, aiming past his head. It lands and sticks with such a certain _thud_ into the soil that it’s a miracle the sound didn’t echo around the forest. It does what she meant it to - the assassin stops crawling, yelping in surprise. With a wince and cringe, he turns onto his side, looking up at Vex, pleading even as she nocks another arrow.

“Don’t…” he begs, falsetto and desperate, “…Please…I was just…following orders…”

The sound of the stretching of the bowstring in her ear is accompanied by a low hiss. Her gaze seems to darken at the corners, leaving her prey in a spotlight of sight. She aims for his other shoulder.

Fires.

The assassin cries out, and Vex hears something laugh, or perhaps it was her. She can’t tell.

“You hurt them,” she accuses, “You hurt my friends. You nearly killed my brother.”

“…I…I had to…I had to!” weeps the assassin, “Please!…I need…I needed the money…my family–”

“ _Your_ family,” Vex spits, flexing as another arrow is prepared in her bow, “is hardly worth mine.”

The third arrow sinks into the flesh of the man’s thigh. He lets out another blood-curdling scream. Vex can smell blood and smoke in the air around her.

Someone is calling her name, another is whispering it. Her feet move of their own accord, pushing her forward until she is standing above him.

_…Your brother is in pain…_

“I can’t imagine how much pain you must be in,” she says to the trembling body before her.

_…They trapped Trinket to stop him from getting to you…_

“Look at you,” Vex huffs, “Crying and pitiful. A trapped animal. How does it feel, asshole?”

… _They set Percival’s room on fire thinking he was in there…_

“I hope you burn in hell.”

_…Vex’ahlia…_

“VEX’AHLIA!”

Percy’s voice breaks through the haze, and suddenly everything is far too loud and far too bright. Vex is suddenly aware of _everything_ , of Keyleth panicking as she bends over the assassin and starts casting a healing spell, of Trinket groaning low as he catches up, of Vax dismounting Trinket, clutching at his side, of Grog stomping his way to them, Scanlan on his shoulder, of Percy’s iron-tight grip on her wrist.

“Vex,” says Percy, desperate but gentle, “Vex. Let go of the bow, dear. Let go.”

Confusion sets in. Vex looks from Percy’s face, to the wounded man, to Keyleth’s worried expression, to Vax’s furrowed brows as he stares at her hands. To her hands.

There is dark black smoke around them, coming, it seems, from inside the cuff of her sleeves. The grip she has on her bow seems to have turned her knuckles near-white. The arrow nocked in her bow falls to the ground, and her eyes follow its landing point up to the face of the now unconscious but healing assassin, her three arrows broken and pulled out of his body and lying in bloody splinters around him.

Realization hits, followed by a sad terror. She lets go of her weapon, and it clatters to the floor.

Percy’s hand around her wrist loosens, and she hears him breathe a sigh of relief. “Look at me, Vex,” he says, quietly, “look at me.”

But she can’t. She _can’t_.

Vex bolts.

She doesn’t know how long she runs, doesn’t know in which direction, but she tires herself out, or perhaps she was tired to begin with. She hides behind a big tree, breath short and hard to come by, and cries.

There is a voice in her head, muffled and far away, but it is clear to her that it is laughing.

“…Vex?”

By contrast, Percy’s voice comes in clear. Vex sniffs, rubbing at her eyes and cheeks. She feels Percy’s hand on her shoulder.

“Here you are,” he says, “What happened? Why did you run?”

Vex still can’t look him in the eye. The genuine concern in his tone hurts her heart even more. “I couldn’t…I didn’t…” she stammers, unsure of what to tell him, “Percy, I…”

“It’s alright, dear,” he reassures her, rubbing at her arms placatingly, “We’re alone, it’s alright.”

“No, it’s not!” she replies, and her sudden outburst makes Percy release her, “It’s not alright! How _can_ it be? I mean…Did you see what I did to that man?! Nothing about that is alright!”

Percy catches her flailing hands in his. “It wasn’t you, Vex,” he reminds her, “You didn’t know.”

“But I _did_ , Percy!” Vex tells him, and perhaps she is yelling, letting it all out, to drown out the whispers in her head, “I knew what I was doing, I knew where I was! I saw him there, and all I could think about was what he and those other shitholes had done, and I…Gods, Percy, I wanted to _hurt_ him. I wanted him to grovel and bleed. I wanted to just…just pepper him with arrows, not enough to kill him, but just enough for him to feel only _pain_. I wanted to make him _pay_.”

Tears sting Vex’s eyes. She’s shaking a little, and her hands are fisting and relaxing convulsively in Percy’s. He says nothing, just watches her with a sad understanding that doesn’t make her feel any better.

“Is this…Is this what it was like for you?” she asks him, “I heard it in my head, in my ears…like it was right beside me…And when it was talking to me, I felt like I was _trusting_ it. It was guiding me and I was letting it. And now that it’s not doing that…I can hear it laughing, and I know it’s threatening me. Was it like this for you?” Crying has made her sight blurry, but still when she looks up at him, she can see his expression clear. She chokes.

“Percy, I’m frightened,” she confesses, voice barely above a whisper, “I’m so frightened.”

“Oh, darling,” sighs Percy, and he pulls her in, closing his arms around her. The warmth and sincerity of his embrace is too much, and Vex just lets herself go.

“I didn’t want this,” she cries, slightly muffled by his waistcoat, “I never wanted any of this.”

“I know, Vex,” Percy answers, “I know. And I’m so sorry this is happening to you. I feel partly responsible. But Orthax is evil, and he will prey on anything he perceives as a weakness, so you must be strong. _We_ will be strong together, yes?”

He pulls away only enough to reach up and wipe tears from her cheeks. “When this happened,” he reminds her, “You asked me to watch you, to stay close to you, because I would be best equipped to tell when something really bad was about to happen. Do you remember?”

Vex nods, and Percy gives her a small, gentle smile.

“And I promised you, didn’t I?” he continues, “I promised that I would not let anything happen to you, that I would help you fight this until we figure out a way to draw it out or at least satisfy it enough to make it leave on its own. Remember?”

“I remember.”

Percy strokes into her hair. The touch of his hand is comforting, and Vex finds herself leaning into it a little. “Then trust that I will not let you face this alone,” he says, firm but soothing, “Orthax came for you because you were the first to attack it when it manifested off of me. You were trying to protect me. I will do the same for you. But I can’t do that if you run away from me.”

“I didn’t mean to…” Vex answers. Percy’s body is warm against hers. She seems to have stopped shaking now.

“I know, dear,” Percy replies, still smiling softly at her, “But try not to do it again, yes? Just…trust me, please. I care about you, and I will be here to protect you. I promise.”

Perhaps it’s their proximity. Perhaps it’s her emotions. Perhaps it’s the fact that he _said it out loud_ and he must think she didn’t catch it. Whatever it is that compels Vex to do it, she doesn’t really know, and probably never will. But she chooses then to reach up, her feet flexing a little, and touch her lips to his. They linger there, and then he is kissing her back, his lips easing against hers, sweet even in their uncertainty. His hand is in her hair, and he pulls her a little closer, the kiss deepening slightly. Her hand is on his chest, and she can feel his heartbeat through his clothes and against his palm, pace a little quicker, but steady. The moment is simple and pure, and for a while, all is quiet in Vex’s head.

But then Vex comes back to herself, remembers where they are, who she is and who _he_ is, and pulls away, if a little reluctantly. She can feel a blush in her cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” she breathes, and Percy smiles at her, bright and… _happy_. 

“For what?” he asks through his grin, his own breathing a little slow and deep, “I’m not complaining. Not necessarily the circumstances I had hoped for it to happen, but considering our recent luck, I’ll take it.”

Vex can feel herself coloring even more. “I…That wasn’t…” she stutters.

“Wasn’t what?” he asks, already leaning into her for another kiss.

The sound of something snapping, followed by a familiar huff interrupts their moment. They don’t fly apart, not really, but there is a distance between herself and Percy now, and she finds herself instantly missing the warmth of him.

“Here you are,” Vax groans, a hand still pressed to his side, “You little shit, you run far too fast sometimes, you know that? C’mere.” With his free arm, he grabs Vex, who lets herself be pulled into her brother’s embrace. She is careful to miss his wounded side. She says nothing for now. She has a lot of explaining to do.

Her hand is still in Percy’s. She feels him give it a little squeeze.

_I will be here to protect you._

Percy’s voice now, not Orthax’s. Vex sighs in relief, and lets Vax rant on as Percy leads them both back to the rest of their party.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vax and Vex don't mind sharing a few things. A few things, in this case, being Percy. [MILD SMUT, no twincest (I promise.)]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : "You are literally the worst people I have ever met.”- Percy to the twins?_

“You are literally the worst people I have ever met,” hisses Percy, feeling the color in his cheeks and heat in his ears, “You do know this, don’t you?”

He means it, too. Every last word. He actually cannot tell which of them is worse than the other, and he’s had _years_  to figure it out.

Vax is _awful_ , he’s just _awful_. The way he runs headlong into danger without a thought for his own safety and stresses Percy with worry. The way he hunches over with the heaviness of his emotions and makes Percy wonder why he can’t just let it off his shoulders. The way he wears his heart on his sleeve yet fastens it on there with so much brooding that Percy is _sure_  he’s going to watch Vax crush himself with his own aches.

And then there are the Little Things, these silly antics that makes Percy think he’d have gone prematurely grey by now if he wasn’t already. Like cloaking himself in stealth and sneaking into Percy’s workshop and knocking things over deliberately to make as much noise as possible. Like taking one of his feathers and tickling Percy’s ear or cheek when he’s asleep or thinking a little too deeply. Like leaving him lascivious little notes written in Elvish in places he’s _sure_  to find them in at the most random moments of the day. Yes, Vax’ildan, Champion of the dread Raven Queen, is an utter _cad_  sometimes.

Vex, for her part, is no better. The way she flies just a little too high to still be considered safe and makes Percy’s heart skip a beat or two every few seconds until she’s back on solid ground. The way she wrings her hands when she feels her emotions about to take over, so much so that Percy wonders how she hasn’t given herself cramps or callouses there. The way she keeps her pains and secrets far too much to herself so that Percy has to watch them eat her up inside little by little because she won’t always let him help.

Oh, and Vex has her own Little Things as well, more than enough to make Percy sometimes wonder how he doesn’t look as old as he sometimes feels. Like picking up odds and ends in his workshop, asks him about it, and then pretends to drop them, catching them at the last second, but not before causing Percy no small amount of fear.  Like deliberately letting Trinket wander too close to his things so that he sheds all over Percy’s belongings. Like brushing a hand across his thigh or arm or back when she walks close or past, then confirms the non-accident with a wink.

Right now, with Vax’s hot mouth and wicked tongue working him expertly, cheeks hollowed as he all but swallows Percy down, with Vex tightening the scarf tying his left wrist to Vax’s bed, they aren’t helping their case at all.

“The absolute _worst_ ,” he repeats, only to be silenced by Vex’s lips, insistent and greedy on his. _Typical_.

“Darling Percy,” she laughs, all silk and heat, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Prove me wrong then,” Percy invites, and the grin Vex flashes him is nigh on predatory.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy had Orthax, Vex has Saundor. But Percy will be damned if he'll let her fall into the same trap he did. [EP 63 MILD SPOILERS]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : I feel like the day Percy kisses vex on the cheek is the day our souls retreat from our bodies_

Percy has come to the rather decisive conclusion that Saundor is - was - an asshole of epic proportions. A complete and utter disgrace to civil beings of any plane or realm, a waste of emotions but certainly not of attacks, an absolute joy to summarily dispatch, more disgusting than the scum that had poured out of his unworthy mouth, the dredge of the dirt he scrapes off the bottom of his shoe. A cock, even.

Percy revels in the petty vengeance of ransacking the now very dead archfey’s corpse, despite not finding anything else of any significance. To the victors go the spoils, after all, and there Saundor lays, defeated, destroyed, despoiled at his feet. _Good. You can’t hurt her anymore._

His thoughts of her direct his gaze, and he turns to see her standing awkwardly and looking _distressed_ , one hand rubbing at the opposite arm as if in a vain attempt to comfort herself. He hears her breathe out a teary “thank you” at them, and something in Percy’s jaw jumps. Why does she feel the _need_ to thank them for coming to her aid, for defending her against Saundor’s vitriol and venom? She doesn’t _need_  to thank them, they but followed her lead, and also rather enjoyed shutting the bark-skinned blackguard up for good in the process.

She’s crying again. And now she’s apologizing. And now she’s feeling guilty. Percy doesn’t understand; Saundor and his creaking cronies had deserved the ass-kicking, so much so that Percy almost regrets not being able to bring the shithead back to life if only to be able to kick his ass all over again. Or he’d stand back and let Vex take him apart again, slowly, painfully, one scratch for every tear she has shed because of him…

_Pull back, Percival. She doesn’t need this, not right now, not anymore. Solutions to current problems, remember? Current problem: she’s crying. Solution?_

He saunters over, creeping up slowly behind Keyleth and screwing his face into an exaggerated grimace. He rasps and sticks his tongue out as he mocks Saundor’s words, Keyleth following suit, and Vex laughs, genuinely laughs. There’s a part of Percy that hopes Saundor can see them now, can see her laughing at his words, sucking the power out of Saundor’s poison.

Percy finds himself breathing a sigh of relief when Vex eases up, when her tears stop and her chuckles continue. When trembling lips relax, and the corner of her mouth turns up in her trademark tiny smile, Percy knows he has helped. It’s a good feeling, that - knowing that he has somehow done some good.

And then she turns that smile on him, and he feels one of his lungs stop working momentarily.

“Are you all right, Percival?” she asks.

Percy frowns. “Am _I_ all right?” he echoes, “Are _you_  all right? Not to pour salt on the wound as it begins to heal, but you _were_  out for a while. A short while, thanks to Scanlan’s quick thinking, but still.”

Vex waves him off. “Not the first time that’s happened,” she replies, the ghost of a sneer turning her upper lip up briefly, “But we’re not talking about _me_ , we’re talking about _you_! They seemed to not like you very much at all either.”

“No, they didn’t, did they?” Percy chuckles, “I’m fine though. Nothing a healing potion or two and another long rest won’t fix.”

Vex’s expression falls a little. “I can’t help feeling bad about all this,” she sighs, “Maybe if I’d tried to…I don’t know, reason with him, or come to some sort of…fucking compromise, we wouldn’t have -”

“There is no compromising with the likes of him, darling,” Percy interjects firmly, “You couldn’t have reasoned with him, even if you wanted to. He was vile and cruel, and, as we’ve seen, didn’t really deal with rejection well. It was either his way or no way, and it would’ve ended _far_  worse for you if you _had_  given in.”

“…I nearly did,” Vex confesses, “Not that it felt right or anything, but just…if I thought I could keep you out of harm’s way…”

Percy has a fleeting but no less disturbing image of tree-ified Vex, limp body horizontal and floating in the air, held aloft by a victoriously laughing Saundor, flash through his mind, and he grits his teeth, one hand balling into a fist in his pocket. “It wouldn’t have been worth it, Vex,” he tells her, straight and honest, “And we wouldn’t have let you. You know that, right?”

Something flashes in Vex’s eyes when she looks up at him, and it feels like an arrow to his heart, but Percy can’t tell if it’s pain he’s feeling or…something else he can’t (or isn’t sure he can) identify.

“Listen to me, Vex’ahlia,” he says, “I know what that must’ve felt like, what that must’ve sounded like to you in that moment. The way he preyed on your fears and your guilt and used them to tempt you. The logic it must’ve sounded like in your ears and your mind and your heart, after everything he said to you, every hurt that he brought up. I know what it’s like to hear bells instead of sirens, serenades instead of warnings. And I know what it’s like to have given in, and be haunted and harmed by it.”

Vex’s expression softens as she realizes what he’s talking about.

“I was frightened for you,” Percy continues, “But you did what I couldn’t do. What I _didn’t_  do. Orthax knew I was weak. Saundor hoped you were too, but you were strong. And you showed him your strength. You showed all of us your strength. I _was_ frightened for you, but no longer. Now…”

“Now?” she prods, voice barely above a whisper, eyes fixed on Percy’s face.

Percy shrugs, grins at her gently. “Now, as I have been in the past, as I’m sure I will be in the future,” he tells her, “I am immensely proud of you.”

Vex’s eyes begin to shine with fresh tears, and though her smile trembles a little, it doesn’t disappear.  “…Percy,” she sighs, “I…I don’t…”

Percy shakes his head. “Don’t,” he says, “You won today. Enjoy this victory, and your prize; both were hard-earned and well-deserved. Thank you for being strong, Vex.”

On a whim, he bends a little, turns his face, kisses her cheek. He thinks he hears her inhale sharply at the touch of his lips on her skin. He thinks he feels heat on his lips where her skin had touched them.

Percy blinks once. Twice. Vex stares up at him with a certain fondness, a tear or two rolling unfollowed down her cheek. He doesn’t know how long they stand there in each other’s personal spaces, staring wordlessly at each other, strangely lost in the wonderment of the moment they’ve somehow found themselves in, when Vax’s voice breaks the reverie. 

“Vex’ahlia!” Vax calls, “I’m _fucking_  curious! Pull that bowstring!”

Vex shakes her head, as if waking from a dream. “What?!” she calls back, “I don’t have it!”

Percy is quick to hand her the bow (how had he forgotten that he had it in his hand?), and he watches her walk towards the light, examining and testing it with increasing fascination and excitement. The almost affectionate way she looks at it brings that strange pang back to Percy’s heart, but this time there is a source - the echo of a different kind of arrow firing in a tense, expectant silence.

“ _My heart is someone else’s._ ”

She’d been so certain, had flung it in Saundor’s face without hesitation. Had she known it would rebound on Percy as well? Of course she didn’t. Hell, Percy hadn’t been expecting it either, hadn’t expected that weird tingling in his chest at the mere thought of her words. Is that pain? Is that jealousy? Is that hope? He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know if he _wants_  to know either.

He hears a sharp _swish_ , turns just in time to watch an arrow slice through the air several feet away from him and embedding itself with definitive authority into the wall. Vex gasps in elation at her new bow and how well it apparently works. The light catches her grin, and Percy can’t help but smile himself.

_Enough, Percival._

Percy walks over to the arrow to retrieve it, and Vex thanks him with a gentle touch of her palm to his cheek when he brings it back to her.

_Enough._


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just because you had to let go of the treasure for a while doesn't mean it won't come back to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : “I haven’t seen her in six years.” Perc'ahlia. Please destroy me ;n;_

If he is to be truly honest with himself, Percival is _excited_. The feeling is electric, not unlike Diplomacy letting off a charge, but with this, it courses from his fingertips and through the rest of him, and he finds himself _restless_ , needing to let it out because he can’t keep it in. Words on the papers he is perusing and signing don’t last long before scrambling themselves into unintelligible messes of lines and letters, and try as he may, he can’t seem to focus enough to get them to make sense again. After the 10th page or so of this, he gives up, deciding upon a stroll in the gardens instead.

It doesn’t do Percy any good either. It’s a little too quiet out, strangely enough, and though it’s not something he usually minds, today it just serves to make the thoughts in his head louder and more jumbled. A trip to the shooting off the castle grounds does nothing to placate his energies either, and even less to silence his mind. In the end, Percy sulks back indoors, where Cassandra finds him pacing in his workshop.

“Walk harder, brother,” Cassandra snorts, leaning against the door frame, “You’ve no hope of wearing a ditch into the floor just lightly pattering on it the way you’re doing now.”

But her teasing only serves to irritate Percy, who only flips the bird at her in response. Cassandra tsks. “You can’t honestly be taking it _this_  seriously.”

“I take _far_  too many things very seriously, Cassandra,” Percy exhales, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, “You already know this.”

“Yes, but _this_?” she asks, arms crossed as she strides down the two steps that lead into his work area, “Is it _really_  worth you abusing your the soles of your new boots like this?”

Percy sighs, palms coming down to rest on the edge of the work table, cluttered tools clanging a bit. “Six years, Cassandra,” he says, barely loud enough to hear, “I haven’t seen her in _six years_.”

“You haven’t changed that much, you know,” Cassandra tells him, crossing the distance between them to lean over the opposite edge and peer at him from across the table.

Percy flexes his fingers, closing his fist and opening it then closing again, apparently fascinated with his own gloved hand. “Haven’t I?”

Cassandra laughs. “Absolutely not,” she says, “Still stubborn, still arrogant, still ridiculous and confusing. Bit wrinkled around the eyes these days, but mostly still the same old Percy I’ve come to reacquaint myself with over the past near-decade.”

Percy blinks at her from behind his spectacles. “That doesn’t help,” he tells her.

Cassandra just shrugs. “I know it doesn’t,” she replies gently, “But I didn’t come here to help. Not really.”

“No, you never do,” Percy snorts, and it turns into another heavy sigh, one hand reaching up to run through his hair. “What if she doesn’t recognize me? What if _I_  don’t recognize _her_? Cassandra, what if _she_  has changed?”

“Well,” Cassandra chuckles, “That’s a bit of a silly question, isn’t it? Of _course_  she’ll have changed by now. That was…sort of the point of it all, wasn’t it? Of why you put yourself at all through that heartbreak of letting her leave for as long as she did?”

“That’s true…” Percy trails off, eyes gazing past Cassandra and out the open door. Cassandra moves around the table, taking his face in both of her hands and offering her brother a small smile.

“Why are you so worried, Percival?” she asks, “Family always recognizes family. You and I have proven that several times over, haven’t we? Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

“You always say that,” Percy answers, “And yet it almost never _is_.”

Cassandra just chuckles again, reaching up on tipped toes as she bends Percy towards her. She kisses his forehead softly, then gives his hair a ruffle for good measure. He growls in annoyance, quickly patting his hair down again, and Cassandra lets out another laugh at the glare he gives her.

A blast of horns steals both of their attentions away. “She’s here,” Percy breathes, “Cassandra…”

Cassandra grabs his hands, giving them a squeeze. “Everything is going to be just _fine_ ,” she says again, “Alright?”

Percy takes a deep breath, nods. “Alright,” he says.

“Good,” Cassandra returns. She gives her palm a quick lick and fusses with Percy’s hair a little, earning her a sharp _tut_  as Percy tries to bat her hands away. As he makes his way out of the workshop, Cassandra following close behind, he pats down at his clothes, as if they’d gotten mussed in all his worrying, and he finds himself walking a little faster than his brain intends.

Vex’ahlia meets him at the main hall, looking just as harried as he. She can’t seem to stop trying to iron out non-existent wrinkles on her dress, or fussing at her braid. When she sees Percy making his way towards her, she reaches out a hand for him.

“I don’t think I’m ready,” she confesses when he takes her hand in his, “Percy, I’m not ready.”

“Neither am I, dearest,” he tells her, “Gods, your hands are _shaking_.”

“That’s because this might be the first time in about an hour that I stopped wringing them,” Vex answers, “You think she’s changed much?”

Behind Percy, Cassandra coughs away a little giggle. Percy gives Vex’s knuckles a tiny kiss. “Only one way to find out, I think,” he answers. He tugs at her hand, and together, he and his wife make their way to the doors.

The heavy wooden doors creak as they swing open, and the afternoon sun filters into the hall. The silhouette of a marching group grows bigger as it comes closer, crossing the drawbridge at a steady pace, and yet Percy’s heart seems to hammer in time with their strides.

And then a man in fine livery walks to the fore, and the announcement comes.

“Lady Penelope Vanora Kadri Aurelia de Rolo!”

The last syllables of her name are barely out of the caller’s mouth before Penny breaks from the formation, emerging from the centre of her guard and running full pelt at her parents, long brown ponytail swaying behind her.

“Mum!” she shouts, launching herself at Vex, who grabs her close.

“Penny, my darling!” Vex exclaims, clinging to her daughter tightly, “Oh, my love, you’ve grown!”

“Yes, that tends to happen to people, mum,” Penny laughs, “Especially after six years.”

“Six very long years, dear,” Vex agrees, voice shaky with her tears, “Oh, I’ve missed you _so_   _much_.” She embraces her daughter again, laugh-crying into her hair. She takes a while before releasing her again, letting Penny reach at her face and wipe her tears off.

All this time, Percy stands and watches from a short distance away, marvelling at the warmth around his heart at the sight. All this time, and still he hasn’t been quite able to wrap his head around the thought that he could produce - _create_  - something as wonderful as a _family of his own_.

Penny turns her attention to him, her green eyes brightening. Percy can’t fight back the smile that spreads across his face as she straightens up, patting down her dress much like her mother had been doing before her arrival. Percy stiffens his stance, then gives his daughter a slow, low bow, bending at the waist.

“Lady Penelope,” he greets, “welcome home to Whitestone.”

Clutching her skirts, Penny returns the greeting with a worthy curtsy. As she comes up, however, she starts giggling, and then she’s jumping at her father, circling her arms around him. Percy catches her with a laugh, twirling on the spot.

“Your mother was right, darling,” he tells her, “You _have_  grown. Aren’t you little more than eleven years old?”

Penny swats at his arm. “You _wish_  I was little more than eleven years old,” she teases, “Because then you wouldn’t be preparing a ball for your only daughter’s sixteenth birthday.”

“Which is _well past_ , if I recall correctly,” Percy answers.

“Yes it is, father,” replies Penny, “but you promised a ball to celebrate it with no matter when I came home, remember?”

Percy chuckles. “That I did,” he says, “Vex, love, remind me again why I made that promise?”

“Because you knew you would miss the dickens out of your daughter,” Vex responds, joining the two of them, her eyes still shining and slightly wet, but her smile is just as bright as her daughter’s.

“I did know that, yes,” Percy confirms, kissing Penny’s forehead, “And I did. Very much. Six years is a _very_  long time to be without you, dear.”

Penny nuzzles into her father’s chest, and Percy revels in the warmth of her. He holds her tight and close, feeling the sting of tears in his eyes as well.

“I’ve missed you too, father,” he hears Penny sigh. He feels her fingers give his back a squeeze, which he’s only too happy to return. He holds one arm out to Vex, who joins the embrace, kissing Percy on the cheek and Penny on the head.

“I’ve missed my family.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percival has had enough of gods, but not of Vex. [MILD SMUT]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Percy worships the gods no longer, but Vex, he'll gladly worship her in every way._

Percival has had his fill of gods. They have fucked with him and his family - and his _found_  family - more than enough for him to stop believing long ago. Not in them, not that they’re watching, but in the fact that they are benevolent, non-partisan beings who come when they are called or give when they are begged. The gods do not care, and therefore Percival no longer cares.

Thankfully though, Vex’ahlia, for all her beauty and light and wonder, is no god. So Percy feels completely justified in the middle finger he mentally flips the deities when he murmurs Vex’s name like a prayer against the expanse of her bare skin. He doesn’t know if she hears it, but her fingers in his hair as he moves lower and claims her secrets with lips and teeth and tongue feels like some sort of blessing or approval.

He also feels completely justified in not caring for the gods anymore when he begs for Vex, and she gives. He feels no shame in pleading with her, even though his hands are not together in piety nor open in supplication; he touches and holds her with reverence as he makes his pleas, both silent and spoken, and when Vex smiles at him and kisses him deep and needy, he knows he has been heard.

No less does Percy feel completely justified in turning away from the gods when he finds himself beneath Vex, buried deep in her heat, both sinful and heavenly at the same time. Although she is the one kneeling, her legs on either side of him, it is he who is making an offering, his hips piston-like even as she grinds against him hard and fast, receiving the gifts he is so fervently presenting her with. She expresses her gratitude with breathless moans and whimpers, her fingers digging into the flesh of his shoulder and chest as she clutches and clings to her most avid devotee. When Percy calls, she comes, and then at affectionate, adoring encouragements from Vex, Percy does too, his breath caught somewhere in his throat but his voice growling incoherent praises of her as she takes all he has to give.

Percy was never a religious man to begin with, but he is and will always be the first to acknowledge the idolatry in the way he loves Vex, because he does. He looks at her, watching the peaceful half-smile on her lips and the steady rise and fall of her subconscious breathing as she sleeps on his arm, and quietly declares that he would - he _will -_  give her the world and more, would break the world for her should it ever come to that, and without hesitation. Some part of him thinks it ridiculous that so much of his world is built around her now, like some sort of shrine, but she is precious to him. He may no longer worship the gods, but he will worship Vex, in any way he can think of that would be worthy of her. She is the better outlet of his faith, after all, an actual proven manifestation of miracles, and if Sarenrae or the Raven Queen or Pelor or any other deity has a problem with that, they can take it up with him in the morning, when he is dressed and fed and armed, ready to face any idiot that would dare threaten his religion.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : man, trying to think of happy prompt when i'm in the middle of writing ALL THE ANGST is hard! okay. uh. someone asks 'so who's the better shot?' which turns into a mess of slightly-drunk strip target shooting._

* * *

 

More Vestiges collected, another member of the Conclave felled, friends resurrected from death and/or reunited with, and finally Vox Machina find time for themselves. Time to recoup and regroup, time to mend and heal, time to remind each other that they are alive, all of them, and rejoice in their continued togetherness. There is some semblance of guilt, of course, that they are stopping temporarily to indulge in things other than saving the world, but Percy decides this is something they all need, else they all break for good. He has seen some of them come too close to their breaking points even as they get closer to finishing everything once and for all; now would be a bad time to lose any of them, in any sense of the word.

And that is why Vox Machina are camped out in the woods just off the city borders of Whitestone, a generous supply of food and libation (and then some), gathered around a cozy fire, exchanging stories, jokes and laughs with each other and with friends. Cassandra is here, because when she had been told of what had happened to Percy she had immediately dropped all pretentiousness of authority and nobility and all but burst into tears in front of everyone, throwing her arms around her brother and cursing and scolding him for doing the exact opposite of what she had asked him to do weeks ago. Kynan is here, because Vax has been pleading with the team to give him a second chance, and therefore had been giving him a bit of training with weapons, just as he had promised long ago. Zahra is here, because Vex had invited her and she had accepted almost too quickly, especially after Vex had tearfully recounted their recent adventures. Gilmore is here, because he is doing far more for Whitestone than anyone has ever asked him to, and he needs this as much as Vox Machina does. Jarrett is here, because Gilmore brought him along (Vax, surprisingly, has not inquired as to why, but Percy thinks everyone has an idea anyway).

“ONE MORE!” comes Pike’s higher-pitched roar, followed by the loud bellows of Grog’s uproarious laughter. The shout is echoed by majority of their little camp, and when the din dies down, Percy quips, “Oh, if you insist.”

“‘If you insist,’” Keyleth repeats with a snort from where she is lying between Vax’s legs, leaning against his chest, “Back from the dead and still as pretentiously pompous as ever. I gotta drink to  _ that _ .”

“Hear hear,” Vax says, raising his own empty tankard, “Think you can crack that cask open any faster, Grog?”

Grog steps into the fire light, a wide grin across his somewhat red face. “Is that a trick question?” he asks in reply, following with the kind of chuckle Percy only ever hears from him in the heat of battle. There’s a quick cracking sound, and then Scanlan lets out a “WHOOP!” before he dives underneath the cask with his cup held out and catching the drink before a single drop of it can be wasted on the ground.

“Made it!” Scanlan calls to the rest, “We’re good, guys, we’re good!”

Majority of the company laughs, even Kynan, if somewhat shyly, as if still unsure that his presence here is welcome. But it’s the sound of Vex laughing, truly laughing, that lingers for Percy. It draws his gaze across the fire to where she’s sitting on the ground, propped up against a sleeping Trinket, the light of both flames and mirth dancing in her eyes. She must feel his eyes on her, because hers shift to him, and Percy can’t help the small grin he gives her. He raises his tankard to her in a salute, and with a tiny, silent giggle, she does the same for him.

“Oi, you!” comes Vax’s voice, slightly slurred, “Googly eyes!”

Percy turns to Vax, and out of the corner of his eye sees Vex do the same. This sends Keyleth into peals of somewhat inebriated laughter as Vax snorts. “Knew that would happen,” he says, “I’ve always wondered something, and I think now is a good time to ask.”

Somewhere behind Percy, Scanlan pipes up. “I can answer that,” he declares, “Marry Vex, fuck Percy, kill Vax.”

Grog lets out a huge bellow of a laugh, while Pike tuts at Scanlan, but is giggling too. “Thanks, Scanlan,” says Vex faux-saucily, complete with a signature wink.

“First of all, fuck you,” answers Vax, and Scanlan chuckles, “Secondly, that wasn’t the question, that was nowhere  _ near _ the question I was going to ask. What I _ was _ going to ask,” and now he turns back to Vex and Percy, looking from one to the other, “is which of you is the better shot?”

“Vex, of course,” says Percy, just barely understandable over Vex’s “Obviously Percy.”

“Wow, really?” Keyleth says with the tiniest choke, “Neither of you are gonna claim to be Vox Machina’s most bad-ass long-range-target fucker?”

Percy chuckles; drunk Keyleth was always just a tad more fun than sober Keyleth. “I actually do not have very good aim,” Percy admits, “Vision problems. Hence the glasses, obviously.”

“And I’m usually better when I’m fresh, at the start of fights,” Vex offers, “I’m not the strongest of us, or the sturdiest. The stretchiest, maybe.”

Someone chokes on their drink, Vax cringes audibly, Scanlan lets out an eager, “Really now?!” and Percy feels himself slightly redden. The thoughts that his slightly sloshed mind came up with at Vex’s words caught him off-guard, and he turns his face away from the light of the fire in the hopes that no one notices his face coloring.

“I can’t believe you two are legitimately having a loser-off,” Keyleth huffs.

“We  _ can _ find out the answer to this though,” Cassandra says from beside Percy, “A bit of target practice, yes? Then we can all watch as my half-drunk brother embarrasses himself for the sake of bragging rights.”

Percy nudges her with a shoulder. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he asks, “Just remember though: it wouldn’t only be  _ my _ good name I would be besmirching if I fail at this, it would also be yours.”

“Then it would be advisable for you to not lose, wouldn’t it?” Cassandra shoots back, “Although, honestly, I wouldn’t mind watching you get your arse handed to you by Vex.  _ Especially _ by Vex.”

“Especially?” Percy asks of his sister, but Cassandra’s only reply is a shrug and a wink. “I hate you.”

“Yes, you do,” says Cassandra, reaching up and kissing him on the cheek before turning to the rest, “So? Lord Percival against Lady Vex’ahlia, then?”

“Are we betting on this?” asks Jarrett, looking rather comfortable beside Gilmore on a log Grog had brought over, “I think we should bet on this.”

Much to Percy’s chagrin, Cassandra nods. She sits up a little straighter, juts out her chin just slightly. “We shall bet on this,” she declares, “So says Lady Cassandra of Whitestone.”

“Perfect! I’ve got five gold on Percy!” Scanlan says immediately, digging out a coin from his pocket. He removes his beret and drops his coin in. “Any takers?”

“I’ll see that bet,” Grog replies, burping at the end, “Five gold on Frost-tips the Snowman over there.”

“I’ve yet to really see Percival’s weapons in action,” Gilmore quips (Scanlan snorts at this), “Methinks this will be five gold well spent.”

“You will be  _ woefully _ wrong about this, Shaun,” Jarrett shoots back, “My five gold is going on Lady Vex.”

“Mine too!” Pike says brightly, “I mean, I love you, Perce, I think you’re cool, but it  _ is  _ Vex.”

Percy chuckles. “Don’t worry about it,” he tells Pike, who flips her coin into Scanlan’s hat.

“Same!” Keyleth calls, and Scanlan saunters over to her, holding his quickly filling beret out, “You’re my friend, Percy, but I like Vex a little bit more than you.”

“I’m going to remember that,” Percy jokingly threatens.

“I want to go to bed tonight with all my limbs and appendages intact,” Vax tells everyone, “So my money is on my sweet, beautiful, talented twin sister, Vex’ahlia.” He makes a show of putting his coin in to Scanlan’s hat. “Kynan?”

“Uh, sure,” Kynan stammers, “I’ll bet on Miss Vex’ahlia too.”

“Oh, you called me Miss,” Vex coos, “You’re a sweetheart.”

“And you?” Percy asks Cassandra, “On Vex as well?”

Cassandra lets out a fake, exaggerated gasp, clutching at her lungs. “ _ Percival _ ,” she breathes out, “I cannot believe you would think me, your last living sibling, so disloyal and unloving of my own flesh and blood!”

“...You’re betting on Vex, aren’t you?”

“I was  _ going _ to,” Cassandra snorts, “But now that you’ve said that I would, I’m not going to, because I’m not going to let my older brother tell me what to do.”

Percy sighs and shakes his head while Cassandra laughs beside him as she gives Scanlan her bet.

“All bets are in, you guys,” Scanlan calls, giving his beret a little shake, “Anyone want to raise? Is everyone good?”

“This is really happening then, eh?” Vex says, rising and shouldering one of her bows.

Percy takes to his feet as well, straightening his clothes. “I suppose so,” he replies, “Look at us, show ponies for the people we love the most.”

Vex shrugs. “Story of my life,” she replies, “So. What are we aiming at then?”

Scanlan squints out at the expanse of forest around them, until he finally settles on a specific tree a good number of yards away. “That one,” he states, sending a Minor Illusion of a target at it. It glows bright purple in the dark, clear for everyone to see even at this distance. “Rules of engagement? Anyone?”

Cassandra pipes up again, standing up as well. “One chance, one shot each. As they are both using weapons they are equally proficient at, the playing ground is fair. Whoever hits the bulls-eye, or is closest to it, wins a hefty amount of gems from Whitestone’s own treasury.”

There is an audible collective gasp, followed by a murmur of approval, from everyone. Vex herself seems to brighten at the prospect of...how did she once put it?  _ Sparklies? _

“Well then, if there’s a reward to be had,” she says, clearing her throat, “I’m sorry to say that I won’t be taking it easy on you, Percy.”

“I should be offended that you even thought of doing so, Vex’ahlia,” Percy snorts, “But if we’re to be perfectly honest, I was as well.”

Vex purses her lips at him and flips him off. Percy replies with a wink, and though Vex giggles, she turns away a little. Percy makes a mental note of this tiny victory.

Percy and Vex find a common point they are both comfortable with, and mark how far they are allowed to step before firing else they forfeit their shot. The rest gather a few feet around them, Pike and Scanlan on Grog’s shoulders so they can see better.

“Well then,” Percy says, turning to Vex and bowing at the waist, “Ladies first?”

“Afraid I’m going to show you up in front of our friends, dear?” Vex teases.

Percy raises an eyebrow at her. “Well, I  _ was _ being polite and chivalrous, darling,” he answers, “But if that’s how you want to play it…”

Vex gives him a sweeping bow and steps aside. She laughs when Percy lets out a noise of disgust as he takes position. He isn’t exactly sober, but there is enough drink in him to make his already imperfect vision a tad problematic to work with; he can see the target as bright circles of light, nothing more. It will have to do. He plants his feet firm on the ground as Cassandra comes up close to him.

“Best of luck, brother,” she tells him, a hand on his other shoulder.

“Shush,” Percy says to Cassandra. He raises his pistol, closes one eye in an effort to make the target a little clearer to see, cocks the barrel of the gun, and --

\-- In the split second before he pulls the trigger, he feels fingers crawl across his nape, feather-light with the touch and slightly sharp with the nails. An unnervingly sensitive spot, targeted in exactly the worst way. His shot goes wild, ending up far above the target, flying through a V-angle made by the branches forking away from the trunk.

“Oooh, that is a  _ fail _ ,” Scanlan commentates, as if there was any need for it. 

Beside Percy, Cassandra is giggling. He turns and narrows his eyes at her. “You just lost yourself five gold pieces,  _ Lord _ Cassandra,” he tells her.

But Cassandra just cocks her head to one side to look at him, smile reaching up to her eyes. “Money well-spent, brother,” she answers, reaching to kiss him on the cheek again. Percy swats at her, and she moves out of range, still laughing.

“That was a  _ little  _ unfair,” Vex states, “Maybe Percy should have another shot?”

“Nope!” Scanlan calls brightly from Grog’s shoulder, “Rules is rules, friend! Lady de Rolo said herself - one chance, one shot. Which means it’s  _ your _ turn to prove your prowess.”

“Oh, alright,” Vex concedes, giving Percy a little smile, “Sorry, Percival, I tried.”

“Just make this count, Vex,” Percy tells her, “Do not let my sister’s efforts to foil me be in vain.”

Just then, they hear a low growling from the campfire. Vex lets out a tiny gasp, realizing she had forgotten about Trinket. She excuses herself quickly to see to her bear.

“Percy...hey, Percy.  _ Percy! _ ”

Confused that Vax is whispering at him, he nevertheless goes when Vax urgently waves him over.

“While my sister is distracted, let’s level the playing field a bit, shall we?” Vex tells him, and before Percy can ask what he means, he starts whispering in Percy’s ear.

“...Are you sure?” Percy asks when Vax is finished, “You put money on her.”

No darkness can hide the smirk Vax’ildan gives him then. “I’m sure.”

Not for the first time in his life, Percy’s morals are waging a war with that part of him that has always convinced him that he is, in fact, not a very good person. He couldn’t do that to Vex. He couldn’t justify to himself exacting revenge on her, especially not when it wasn’t even she that had distracted him and ruined his shot. He couldn’t see her get so excited about a reward and then be the one to take her shot away. He couldn’t --

_ Yes. Yes I could. _

He will make it up to her eventually, possibly in the near future, if she will let him. Besides, what’s a handful of gems that she technically could ask for should she feel a need for it? Vex will forgive him for this.

He hopes.

Having apparently placated Trinket, Vex rejoins the group. “Ready to see how badly you’ll be beaten, Percival?” she asks, waggling her eyebrows at him comically.

“And willing, milady,” Percy replies, offering her the same sweeping bow she had given him before his turn. She aims a small kick in his general direction, and he laughs, stepping away just a little.

Silence falls on the group as they watch Vex prepare. Vex has always moved with a subtle grace and elegance that neither freedom, fight nor flight has ever betrayed or ruined. She moves almost like liquid, or like silk in a breeze. From the way she plants firm feet into the earth to the way her arms swipe through the air when she pulls an arrow out of her quiver to nock into her bow, the fluidity of her movements has always been a joy to watch. It comes close to distracting Percy now, as it has before, and if it weren’t for an obviously deliberate sniff for Vax, Percy’s plan may not have come to fruition.

He makes sure first that she is ready and settled before he moves in close. “A better view,” he tells her, when she arches an inquisitive eyebrow at him. The look lingers on him for a while, and Percy hopes the small smile he gives her is straight enough to fool her.

After a while, Vex shrugs. “Have it your way, dear,” she says, sing-song. She readies her shot.

As she pulls back the arrow, Percy makes his move. He steps just behind her, avoiding her outstretched arm and elbow, leans in close, and blows softly against the shell of her elf ear.

There’s a tiny gasp, quickly followed by the sharp  _ woosh _ of Vex’s arrow slicing through the air. A hard, dull  _ thud  _ tells them that the arrow landed  _ somewhere _ , but neither Vex nor Percy are looking. Vex is looking back, behind her shoulder at Percy, half-shock and half-awe. Percy is standing there, watching her face, wondering what she is thinking, but her expression is mostly frozen but for the way her eyes explore his face, flitting from one spot to another. Again, Percy can feel heat in his cheeks, and he’s caught in the moment, caught in her gaze, caught in the warmth of her body against his.

“You’re going to pay for that,” Vex whispers, just loud enough for him to hear.

Percy feels himself start to smile.

“Looks like we have a winner,” Cassandra calls from a distance. Vex and Percy both snap out of the moment at the same time. Percy sees Cassandra at the target tree, where Vex’s shot, despite Percy’s distraction, managed to embed itself in the target, just not dead center. 

“HAH!” roars Grog, “See that, Percy? That’s what a  _ real  _ shot looks like. Bwahahaha!”

Percy turns to him in time to see Pike pat him on the head. “You lost money on him, Grog.”

Grog sobers up quickly, his face falling in an instant. “Oh. Right.”

Cassandra makes her way back to the pair, and Vex steps away from Percy, clearing her throat and patting down her clothes. Instantly, Percy misses the proximity.

Cassandra proffers a hand, and Vex takes it in one of hers. “Congratulations, Lady Vex’ahlia,” she says, “Tomorrow morning, as promised, a significant amount of Whitestone’s most sparkling gems, as reward and proof of your prowess.”

“My thanks, Lady Cassandra,” Vex replies, “I already know what to do with them.”

“Of course you do,” Percy can’t help but answer, and Vex turns to him as soon as Cassandra releases her hand.

“You know I wasn’t the one who made you miss your shot,” she says, closing the distance between them again as the group disperses back towards the fire.

Percy nods, adjusting his glasses as if they needed it. “I do know that, yes,” he tells her.

“Then why did you do it?” she asks, dropping her voice into that lower register that she knows gets Percy’s blood going in just the right way, “Why distract  _ me _ ?”

Percy blinks at her, and then blinks at her again. She’s watching him with a familiar light in her hazel-brown eyes that has him swallowing down against the little jump his stomach does. “I...don’t really know, actually,” he confesses, “I suppose I wanted to see how you might react. For my own satisfaction.”

She is pressed right up to him, head tilted so she can keep looking him right in the eye. It’s almost hard to keep watching her, if only because her gaze is as striking and sharp as any of her well-aimed arrows. Percy’s heart, so recently stopped and restarted, skips a beat or two.

“Well, Percival,” Vex says, the tiniest of smirks just ghosting in the corner of her mouth, “This is me reacting. Can you see it?”

Percy gulps. “Yes,” he rasps.

“And are you satisfied?” Vex asks. Her eyes are dancing. She knows what she’s doing. She always knows.

“I am,” Percy tells her.

She places a palm on his chest, just above his heart. She does this often; she says she likes to feel his heart beating, because it comforts her. Something tells Percy that there is a slightly different intention for this gesture right now.

“You might be,” Vex hums, “But I’m not. And that, sir, is a  _ scandal _ .”

Percy chuckles. He hears the heat in his own voice now. “Is it really?” he asks her, his octave matching hers now, “And what am I supposed to do about it?”

Vex’s grin widens, her eyes flitting to his lips. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out, Percy,” she laughs, and he loves the way his name sounds coming from her, “You always do.”

He meets her halfway, leaning down just as she tips up just enough. Their kiss is slow and gentle, it usually is at first. Vex clings to his clothes, fingers fisting in his coat and scratching at his shirt. Percy’s hand is on her jaw, a thumb running across her cheekbone before his fingers disappear into her hair. He pulls her closer and she goes, sighing into his mouth as she, in turn, pulls him deeper into her kiss. 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Percy thinks that this is bliss. This moment between them, their closeness, the warmth of her against him, her lips on his...This is that white space of pure joy, free of worry and care, that he had once visited and yet chosen to give up. This is what it had felt like, he thinks, in that time between dying and choosing to live again. Vex’s embrace, Vex’s kiss, feels like a happy place. He wants to stay here forever.

“When you two are done trying to devour each other’s faces, we’d appreciate your help in packing up and returning to the castle. Within this century, hopefully.”

Vax sounds sufficiently disgusted. Vex laughs against Percy’s mouth, pulling away reluctantly. “To be continued,” she tells Percy, reaching below and giving his arse a little pat. She starts to move away from him, her hand trailing behind her along Percy’s shoulder and arm. Their fingers link briefly before she is completely out of his reach, and she turns around and gives him a quick wink.

“You are absolutely sickening,” Vax tells his sister, “I thought you should know.”

“Oh, we do,” Vex reassures him, “And we’ll make sure you remember too.”

Vax looks perfectly indignant. “Vex’ahlia, what in the nine known levels of hell did I ever do to deserve this from you?” he asks as she starts gathering things. Her only reply is a lilting laugh that reaches Percy.

An arm links through the space between his own and his waist. “You’re happy with her,” Cassandra states, quiet enough for he alone to hear.

“You sound surprised,” he shoots back, still watching Vex, who is now gently patting at Trinket’s fur and coaxing him awake.

Cassandra’s grip around his arm tightens just a little. “I’m not,” she answers, “I’m glad. Gods know it’s been forever since I could say you were happy and not be teasing about it. You’ve been through enough in one lifetime to not find happiness in a second one. Just promise me one thing.”

Now Percy turns to his sister, whose eyes are shining with barely formed tears that she seems to be refusing to shed. “Anything,” he says, reaching up and wiping beneath one of her eyes.

She gives him a grateful smile for that. “Let yourself be happy, Percy,” she requests, “Don’t run away from it once you start feeling comfortable, don’t shun it because you don’t think you deserve it. You’re wrong about what you don’t deserve, and you don’t know half of the things that you do.”

“And  _ you _ know?” he snorts, but he’s grateful for her words and her support.

Cassandra shrugs. “Maybe not all the time,” she confesses, nodding her head in Vex’s direction, “But  _ she  _ might.”

Percy dips and gives her a kiss on the forehead. This seems to satisfy Cassandra, who gives his shoulder a quick squeeze before pulling him along to join the rest. Once they’ve caught up with the others, Cassandra relinquishes him, falling back to match the pace of those behind them. It takes Vex less than a second to fall into step with Percy, taking his hand in hers and giving him a sweet smile that Percy has no trouble returning.

* * *

 

 

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT:** I think Vex'ahlia is definitely the better shot, but it's because of all the love that Percy puts into the arrows he gives her. It guides them true_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNINGS FOR** major episode 68 spoilers, canon character death, depictions of battle violence and/or gore

* * *

 

Vex hears Ripley’s gun go off, and then, as if on cue, time seems to slow, and Vex can only watch.

Vex watches as a bullet flies out of the barrel of Ripley’s gun in a blast of black powder, cutting through the air and leaving ripples of soundwaves in its violent wake.

She watches Percy turn at the sound of the shot, and in the half-second before impact, realize and accept his fate with a single nod and a sigh as he closes his eyes.

She watches the bullet sink into Percy’s chest, blood spurting from the hole it makes in his clothes and flesh. She watches the blast knock his balance off, watches one foot try in vain to keep him up.

Vex watches Percy fall, and then she feels her entire world come crumbling down around her in an instant.

The second his body lands on the ground, a final breath being forced out of him, time seems to suddenly speed up until it can catch up with itself. There is a split second of silence and stillness, filled with shock at what has just happened, and then things happen in a rush. There is banging and yelling, lights flashing and exploding, steel clanging against steel and magic crackling in the air. And yet through it all, through the noise and the mess, Percy remains quiet and unmoving, unaffected by things going on around him.

And then, Ripley vanishes.

Vex screams. She screams and screams as pain rips through her from her heart, heating and quickening her blood with rage and grief. Barely aware of what she’s doing, she lets her anger fuel her fight, raining arrows down on Orthax, whose howls of pain do little to drown out Vex’s. Despite her fury, Orthax remains. Frustration gets the better of Vex, and she stops, growling deep in her chest at her inability to fucking end things already. She casts around for something else to do, something else to attack, to let her despair out on, but her gaze lands on Percy’s motionless body, and realizes he is prone. She flies down fast, landing hard and rough, but she doesn’t care. She drops Fenthras and plants herself down, pulls Percy to her, cradling him in her arms as gently as she can manage.

Vax is quick to take up where Vex’s arrows leave off, and when even that doesn’t do the trick, Keyleth takes her turn. Above them, dark gray clouds begin to gather and swirl together, and the loud, aggressive rumbling of rolling thunder fills the air. With a loud, desperate yell, Keyleth sends lightning crashing down and through Orthax, whose smoky form finally can take no more; it blasts apart and splinters into separate tendrils, struggling to pick themselves back up or find some singular shape, or perhaps a host.

Quiet again, but the tension that remains is palpable. Scanlan makes his way to his sword, wincing against the shards of glass cutting through his feet, and picks it up in one hand, readying a spell in another. Grog grabs his axe, eyes scanning the surroundings in quick succession as his fingers wring tightly around the handle of his weapon, ready to swing at a moment’s notice. Keyleth is somewhere off to the side, and Vex can hear her unsteady, heavy breathing. She can feel her friend’s eyes on her, on  _ them _ , but can’t bear to look at her, can’t bear to see her own sorrow mirrored on her face. Vax is a shadow in her peripheral vision, moving quietly towards Keyleth, daggers out and ready for a fight despite his slow approach towards her. Kynan, she sees, is tailing him, keeping some distance.

Out of nowhere, there is a dull  _ thud _ , like the sound of too much air being sucked through something far too small or narrow. At the sound, Scanlan throws his spell up immediately, instantly trapping a breathless Ripley in a translucent sphere. She looks around in surprised panic, banging and smacking at her cage. When that doesn’t work, she tries to cast a spell, only for her magic to sputter and fail. Vex watches all this with bittersweet vindication.

In the relative silence that suddenly follows, Vex becomes acutely aware of her hand on Percy’s chest, of her fingers resting above the ragged hole in his body, of the lack of heartbeat beneath her palm. She looks down at him, at his closed eyes and parted lips, at his spattered face and messy hair, and feels tears sting behind her eyes.

“Percy…” she whispers to him, choking as she begins to sob in earnest, “Percy, wake up...It isn’t over yet, please wake up...we need you, we’ve got Ripley, she’s not going anywhere...please, Percy, darling, wake up...Percy... _ Percy _ …”

But Percy does not respond, does not even make any indication that he has heard her. He lies silent and motionless in her arms, and when she presses a palm to his cheek, Vex feels his skin beginning to go cold.

“Everyone, gather ‘round.”

Vex looks up, confused, at Scanlan’s words, and when he meets her inquisitive look, he clarifies: “Her.”

Vex shakes her head. “I’m not leaving Percy,” she tells him, voice shaking in a mirthless, incredulous laugh.

“I’m going to drop this thing,” Scanlan explains, “And we’re all going to  _ fucking kill her _ together.”

“No,” Keyleth lets out, almost pleading.

Vax puts a hand on her shoulder. “Yes we are,” he says, low and firm, but there is no disguising the sadness in the undercurrents of his tone.

They hear a sharp ricocheting sound, and Vex realizes Ripley fired at the walls of the orb, but the bullet leaves nary a dent. Panicking, she tries her blink spell again, but still to no effect. Out of the corner of her eye, Vex sees the smoky tendrils of a weakened Orthax slide across the glass floor and underneath the sphere, trying to reach her, but to no avail.

From where she sits, Percy lying in her arms, Vex watches Vox Machina surround Ripley, edging closer and closer, preparing to exact vengeance for their fallen family member. They each find a spot, circled around the orb, and Scanlan turns to Vex.

“We need you,” he invites.

But Vex won’t leave Percy. She can’t.

Vex shakes her head. Gingerly, she lays Percy back down on the ground. “I’ll shoot her from a distance!” she declares, her anger pushing past her control and out through her words. As she rises to her feet, she picks Fenthras back up. It seems to react to her emotions, briefly curling around her wrist, seeming to soothe her. She knows it understands her.

“Okay,” Scanlan acquiesces, “Get ready to.”

Vex turns around and pulls herself up onto the log behind her, planting her feet as firmly as she possibly can on the uneven surface. She already knows what she wants to do as soon as she has her chance, she just needs the clearest shot possible.

“Vax,” Scanlan calls, “You with us?”

Only now does Vex realize that Vax had been watching her, brows nearly meeting in the middle, his eyes following her every movement, his lips pursed and his jaw clenched. He is sad, so sad, but not just for Percy.  _ I’m so sorry _ . He doesn’t need to say the words for her to hear. Vex nods at her twin brother, trying to steel herself, trying to reassure him she will do what she must.

“Yes,” Vax tells Scanlan at last, and he turns his attention to Ripley. He chooses a spot to the right of her, Kynan following a few paces away.

“Ready?” Scanlan asks, looking around at his comrades.

“Ready,” Vax replies, twirling his daggers and letting the light catch on the blades.

“When you are,” Grog answers darkly, preparing his axe.

Keyleth’s only response is a singular choked-out sob.

The grip Vex has on Fenthras tightens.

“For Percy,” Scanlan breathes, and the words echo over and over in Vex’s ears. Tears begin to form in her eyes again, threatening to blur her vision. Despite this, she sees Ripley look around at them all in turn, taking Vex in last.

Ripley smiles.

“Percy is killing you right now, not us,” Scanlan tells her, and Vex hears his words as if she had said them herself.

Scanlan drops his spell, and in a flash, Vox Machina take their revenge.

Vax lunges, thrusting his daggers into her shoulder and pulling, severing her false arm from her body. As Orthax tries to take its place, shooting up in an instant as if to try and stop the blood spurting from her open wound, Scanlan jumps forward, grabbing Ripley by the throat. He uses his grip on her as leverage as he begins to carve what Vex belated realizes with a sharp pang of hurt is the de Rolo crest into her forehead with a shard of glass. Barely waiting until he’s finished, Keyleth sends conjured vines shooting up and wrapping around Ripley’s neck, torso and legs, tightening and tightening around her. As Ripley begins to choke, Grog slices at her navel with his axe, cleaving a good chunk of her flesh off and away. Ripley’s body shakes as she is summarily torn apart, blood pouring from her. She gurgles as her throat fills with blood, and Keyleth’s vines wrap harder around her neck.

Vex finds her opening.

Her fingers find an arrow from the quiver in her back with precision and surety, tracing along the signature Percy always so carefully carved into the arrows he has crafted her. She fits it onto Fenthras, stretches her elbow back, and closes one eye tight to perfect her aim. She already knows where she wants this one to go, how hard she wants it to hit. Aware of everyone’s eyes on her, she looses the arrow.

Vex thinks she hears a loud, familiar  _ bang _ when the arrow releases, thinks she sees a small puff of sparks and smoke come off the shelf of Fenthras as the shaft of the arrow completes its trajectory past the bow. With a dull  _ thud _ , the arrow strikes true, finding purchase in Ripley’s breast, a third of it embedded in her flesh.

A shot right through the heart. Just like the one she gave Percy. Just like it felt for Vex.

Ripley gasps, her body jerking at the impact of the arrow, but Vex isn’t finished yet, not while she can still see the hag struggling to cling on to her last threads of life.  _ If Percy didn’t get a chance,  _ **_you_ ** _ don’t get one either. _

She’s tempted to jump down off the log and join her friends, to let her final shot at Ripley loose at point blank range. She wants Ripley to know what she has done and what she has wrought, she wants Ripley to feel her anger, to see the pain in her eyes, to know that Vex will take great pleasure in being the one to end her.

But Vex won’t leave Percy. She can’t.

Vex casts down to nock another arrow straight, and she sees Percy beneath her, still quiet, still motionless. But something in his face seems different. Vex can’t tell what it is, or if indeed she is just imagining it, but it pauses her momentarily. She thinks he looks almost peaceful or content, and that his face is turned to her somewhat. She wonders if he might even be smiling.

Fresh tears ruin her vision, but as Vex takes aim, a breeze blows past her, cool against the heated skin of her face. The wind seems to embrace her, to wrap around her elbows and hands as she readies her shot. She closes her eyes, and her sadness tells her heart what it wants to hear, never mind that she may be wrong about what this is.

_ For you, Percy. _

There’s that  _ bang _ again as her fingers let the arrow go, and another burst of powder and sparks from the curve of her bow. The arrow finds its mark, shooting through the cave of Ripley’s open mouth, the tip jutting out the back of her skull. With one final choke and a last expending of air, Anna Ripley dies, mutilated by revenge and grief. The last few forms of Orthax sputter, then dissipate into nothingness.

The air clears. The clouds fade and the sky brightens. The battle field grows silent.

Almost as quickly as it had come, the breeze that had seemed to hold Vex together disappears, and she feels herself break. She lands on shaking feet back down on the ground, next to Percy. The sob she lets out breaks through the quiet. As she gathers Percy up in her arms again, his head against her chest and one of her hands on his, she hears Keyleth now weeping openly. Vex’s control finally slips, and she cries freely, rocking back and forth as she cradles Percy, begging him silently to wake up. 

* * *

 

 

 

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Perc'ahlia cuddles in the workshop after Vex has spent too much time outside during a Whitestone snowstorm._

* * *

 

“ _ There _ you are!” Percy exclaims, half-relieved and half-exasperated, when he finds Vex waiting at the doorway of his workshop, very drenched and seeming to shiver, but smiling all the same, “I was starting to worry.”

“I  _ did _ say I was just taking Trinket out for a while to play in the snow a bit,” Vex reminds him, but she seems grateful for his concern.

Percy’s hand freezes on the latch of his door, and he gives Vex a once-over, eyebrow slowly rising into his hairline. “A while,” he echoes, “More than an hour is longer than ‘a while,’ darling. And judging by how you are soaked to the bone and shivering so hard that I can hear your bones clattering, that was more than ‘a bit’ too.”

Vex just shrugs. Behind her, Trinket lets out a low, happy noise. He follows this with a great big shake, his wet fur flopping about and spraying cold snow-water around. Percy gets caught in some of the shower, and when he shoots Trinket a look of bemusement, Trinket actually sounds like he’s laughing. Percy clicks his tongue at him, then returns to opening his door.

“Well, get in here then, both of you,” he tells Vex and her bear, pushing the door open as much as he can while stepping out of the way to let them in, “It’s always warm in here. Quickly, before you catch your death of cold.”

As she passes him, Vex reaches up and gives him a grateful peck on the cheek. For his part, Trinket growls gentle, and nudges at Percy’s shoulder and head with his snout. The shock of chill at Trinket’s nose makes Percy jump a little, but he holds up a hand and scratches behind Trinket’s ear.

Percy follows them both, watches Vex literally skip and bounce down into the workshop and work her way around gadgets and projects and tools and instruments, until she can get herself as near to the furnace as she can without being in the way of anything. She finds a spot on a less messy table, checks that there is nothing volatile or precarious, and launches herself onto it. Trinket tries to follow, but stops short when he runs out of space to walk into. He lets a gruff growl out, seeming to ask Percy for help.

“No, Trinket,” Percy says frmly but kindly, “We’ve talked about this. Where you don’t fit, you can’t sit.”

The next sound Trinket makes in response sounds mournful, but he backs up as carefully as he can and finds a spot for himself.

“Thank you, good sir,” Percy says, offering Trinket a tiny bow, eliciting a giggle from Vex.

“Get over here already, Percival!” Vex calls, jokingly impatient, “I’m cold!”

“Coming, dear,” Percy laughs, careful as he works his way towards her. As soon as he is within her arm’s reach, she grabs him and pulls him towards her, circling her arms around his torso underneath his jacket. She turns her head, presses her cheek to his chest, and sighs contentedly when Percy embraces her, holding her flush against him.

“There we go,” she breathes out,”This is nice, this is  _ really _ nice.”

“Speak for yourself,” Percy comments, “You feel like ice right now. And here I thought it was bad enough that your feet get cold in bed.”

Vex gives him a playful slap, and Percy chuckles. He gives her a kiss on the top of her head as he sobers up, and Vex hums appreciatively.

They stay like this in comfortable silence for goodness knows how long. Percy doesn’t feel the time go by. He can hear himself breathing in time with her, and for a few fleeting seconds, finds himself hyper-aware of her warmth, her solidity, in his arms. In his mind, he thanks whichever deity might be watching them for this moment of quiet with her, these few minutes of them just being  _ them _ without having to be everything else that they are outside of it. 

“Would you like me to go get you something to drink?” he asks her, “One of Jarrett’s cups of hot chocolate?”

“The one with the spice?” Vex replies excitedly.

“The one with the spice,” Percy echoes in response, “Just enough to give you that proper kick you always look forward to.”

“Oooh yes,” Vex sighs, “Yes, yes, yes.”

Percy laughs again, kisses her forehead. “All right,” he answers, “Stay here and keep warm.” He relinquishes his hold on her and begins to move away, but at the last second, Vex takes his hand and urges him back a little. Percy doesn’t need to ask why; he leans down just as she tilts her head up, meeting her lips halfway with his own. Their kiss is gentle, soft, doesn’t last long but feels more precious with every second because of that. 

When Percy pulls off, Vex is smiling at him. “I love you,” she declares.

“And  _ I _ love  _ you _ ,” Percy promises, giving her another quick kiss, “Here.” He steps away and pulls his coat off, careful as he swings it around behind Vex and wraps her in it. Vex takes it by the collar and pulls it closed around her, snuggling into it with child-like mirth. Jokingly, Percy wrinkles his nose at her, and Vex lets out one of her joyful, full-bellied laughs. Percy takes the echo of it with him as he heads out of his workshop to see to the promised drink.

* * *

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Percy/Vex funny in the mansion walk of shame? Your choice for who is doing the walking and who catches them :D_

* * *

 

 

Vex giggles as Percy presses more kisses into her hair. She snuggles further and further into her embrace as she jokingly tries to duck his kisses, and Percy laughs along with her.

“You are a terrible man,” Vex tells him lovingly, planting a small kiss of her own on his chest, just above his heart, where a bullet hole has scarred over, “Go make me coffee.”

“Go make your own coffee,” Percy shoots back, and Vex slaps his thigh. Percy chuckles before dipping his head forward to give her hair another kiss. Carefully, he untangles himself from her, and as he gets up off the bed, Vex reaches across the bed to give him a sound smack on his bare arse. Percy barely flinches, and turns to briefly give Vex a wink. He throws on a pair of trousers and the first shirt his hands can find before leaving, trying as quietly as possible to close the door. But then --

“Oh, hello.”

Despite himself, despite everyone knowing about him and Vex by now, Percy’s first instinct is still to freeze. He tenses, his hand still on the door. He straightens himself out, clears his throat and turns to see --

“Oh. Pike.”

There is Pike, standing in the hallway in a sleeping robe, blond hair let loose, clutching a mug of steaming hot liquid in her hands. Even out of her armour, she seems to glow, and Percy feels a bit like a sinner caught by a saint. He clears his throat again.

“This is…” he stammers, “Well, it’s --”

“Not what it looks like?” Pike finishes for him, sounding somewhat bemused, “Because it looks like you’re leaving Vex’s room. What is it supposed to look like?”

She is blinking her big, blue eyes up at him, and for a minute, Percy actually chokes on an answer, but then the ghost of a smirk flickers in the corner of her mouth. He breathes out.

“You’re teasing me,” he declares.

“I’m teasing ya,” Pike echoes in confirmation, giggling over her mug, “Everybody  _ knows _ , Percy, we’re just nice enough not to mention it when you guys are around or awake.”

Percy almost doesn’t catch that last part. “Around or awake?” he asks, but Pike speaks over him.

“So, this has been going on for a while, huh?” Pike says, matter-of-factly, “I think it’s really sweet. I mean, it took  _ forever _ , but it’s really sweet. You seem happier too, which is always a plus.”

Percy feels himself colour a bit. “I do, don’t I?” he replies, unable to stop himself from grinning, “I  _ feel _ happier.”

Pike cocks her head to one  side as she watches him. “You say that almost as if you’d forgotten what it’s like,” she points out.

Percy shrugs, rubbing at some phantom itch on the back of his neck. “I might have,” he tells her honestly, “It  _ has _ been a while since I’ve wanted or had anything as good and pure as... _ this _ in my life.”

“Awwww,” Pike coos, the softest of smiles on her face, “C’mere!”

Percy walks forward to her, bending and taking a knee as Pike sets her mug down carefully on the floor, securing it against a wall. She gestures for his hands, and he gives them without hesitation.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to any of us,” she starts, giving his fingers a light squeeze, “I don’t know if we’ll survive Thordak and how long we’ll last if we do. But I do know that whatever you’re feeling now? I know that I don’t want you to ever forget it. So much bad has happened to you, and even though all this good doesn’t cancel all that out, you should remember that this matters as much as that. And I’m just glad, I’m  _ so _ glad, that you’re letting yourself  _ be _ happy.”

“It’s a little daunting, to be perfectly honest,” says Percy, “I can’t help but think sometimes that I’m  _ too _ happy, and that something very terrible is going to happen to take it all away.”

Pike places a soothing palm on his cheek. “I can’t promise that that’s not going to ever happen,” she answers, “All the more reason to cherish that feeling and hold on to it, yeah?”

Percy chuckles. “Yeah,” he repeats back to her, and she giggles. She leans forward and presses a tiny kiss to his forehead. It feels like a blessing of some sort.

“I really am  _ super _ happy for you,” she tells him as she releases him. She picks her mug back up and starts walking away. “You’re making  _ her _ super happy too, if the noises are anything to go by.”

Percy nearly loses his footing.

 

* * *

 


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Percalia, hide-and-seek (however you want to interpret that into a prompt, I guess. Sorry, i'm a little spacy tonight.)_

* * *

 

It would undoubtedly be rather strange to outsiders to see Fort Daxio as it is now - loaded to the teeth with both offense and defense, rotating look-outs marching up and down from ground to battlements, dimly lit with only as many torches as would perhaps be deemed necessary, obviously prepared for a siege or a battle, and yet with a party raging somewhere inside. Music is playing, hysterical laughter is filling the air, drinks seem to be flowing endlessly…All this on what could be the eve of a fight to end all fights. But to those in here, partying and laughing and drinking, this is exactly what the healers ordered.

The merry-making is not by accident, nor did it begin spontaneously. The vote to give everyone a night of joy and temporary carefree-ness was a unanimous decision made by those who mattered, and even before it could be made official, the casks began to come out and the instruments began to play. So here now are the armies of Tal’dorei, sharing stories and ale and music, finding some comfort and happiness after days, weeks, months of stress and fear and uncertainty.

Vox Machina can be found enjoying the festivities as well, all but two of their party gathered around a table of their own. Percy and Vex are not there at the table, however, because Vex is currently running away from Percy, whom she had just pranked. She is half-cackling and half-squealing as she tries to evade him, hiding where she can despite the fact that there is barely anywhere to hide in this tavern, despite Percy finding her within a heartbeat of her ducking or sliding into a spot. Everytime he finds her, she squeaks and runs again, and he gives chase, and she almost feels bad that she runs faster than he does.

But finally he catches up to her, when she finds herself cornered near where their friends are sitting. It’s hardly fair, though - On Percy’s signal, Vax puts his legs up and Grog pushes himself into a space to block Vex, keeping her from getting away.

“ _AHA!_ ” Percy caws triumphantly, grabbing her around the waist and half-twirling her around, “Caught you at last, harridan!”

“You’ll never take me alive, blackguard!” Vex shoots back, laughing heartily.

“All right, all right, we did our part, Percival,” Vax huffs with a half-smile, “Go take your sickly sweetness elsewhere before the rest of us all collectively puke our _loving support_ all over the both of you.”

“By the looks of you, Vax’ildan, you’re about halfway to spewing either way,” Percy snorts, “Come, darling, let us away! We know when we aren’t wanted!” He lets out an exaggerated “ _HARUMPH!_ ” before bending down, placing an arm behind Vex’s knees, and lifting her in his arms. She lets out a surprised shriek which quickly turns into another laughing fit that Percy cannot help but join in.

They do not go very far because they cannot - there is literally nowhere else to go in the direction that Percy has gone in. He instead sets her down carefully in the very corner of the room, just a few feet away from their friends. Vex immediately grabs him by the hem of his coat and pulls him in front of her, seeming to try and shield herself from them.

“Oh, _Percy_!” she trills, feigning ecstasy, “Here? _Now?!_ In front of _everyone?!_ Oh, you naughty, _naughty_ boy!”

This is met with various tones and volumes of retching, protests and other such noises of disgust. Vex absolutely cackles, and Percy, chuckling himself, draws her against his chest in a one-armed embrace. He drops a kiss into her hair.

“You are _incorrigible_ , milady,” he says fondly. She laughs up at him, and something bright and warm flutters somewhere in his chest. He reaches up and brushes stray strands of her out of her face. “I do love seeing you smiling and laughing.”

“That’s good,” she replies, “Because I do it often, you know, a lot of the time because of you.”

“Me?” he asks of her, “Is that true?” He becomes momentarily aware that the music has changed, from a jaunty, jolly tavern song to some slow, smooth melody led by an impressive string player. When he and Vex began to sway in time with the song, he doesn’t know, but he thinks he rather likes it.

“Mm-hm,” Vex answers with a nod, kissing just above his collarbone, “Very true. Because you are clever, and brilliant, and funny, and beautiful, and wonderful.”

“ _Wonderful_ ,” he echoes, somewhat wistful, “I’m not sure that’s something you should _actually_ think of me, darling.”

Vex just wrinkles her nose at him, but giggles. “Too late, love,” she says, “I already do.”

Whatever answer he might have hoped to give her dissipates into his thoughts when she reaches up and kisses him, her lips sliding sweetly with his own, a small hint of tongue making him sigh into her mouth. He pulls her more flush against him, his embrace tight and somewhat possessive, as though he’s afraid even the slightest errant breeze might blow this moment away from him.  He feels Vex’s fingers trailing up his shoulders, up the back of his neck and into his hair, where they comb and stroke the way she knows he loves. If he lets out the tiniest of moans, he can’t be made accountable.

Just above the song, he can hear Vox Machina half wolf-whistling and half-fake hurling. Without breaking the kiss, Percy just flips them off.

* * *

 


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _**PROMPT** : Heyyyyy I'M FAKE MARRIEDS/ARRANGED MARRIED TRASH so like perc'halia fake/arranged marrieds?_

* * *

 

Despite herself, the knocking on the door makes Vex jump a little, nearly making her poke herself with the pin she’s putting into her hair.

“Vex, are you decent?” comes Percy’s voice, slightly muffled as it pushes through the wood of the door, “I’m coming in.”

“It’s fine, come on in,” Vex answers, but the knob is already turning.

The door swings open, and Vex gives it a quick glance through the standing mirror she is in front of. “I’m sorry about this,” Percy says as he enters, “I just thought we might not…not…er…” His words trail off.

“Not what, Percy?” she catches, turning to face him, only to find him with a rather slack expression of awe on his face, his jaw slightly hanging. Vex feels herself instantly blush. She clears her throat, pats down at phantom wrinkles and creases along the gown. “You’re, er…” she stammers, “You’re _staring_ , dear.”

“I…Yes,” Percy replies, tone somewhat dreamy, “I suppose I am. I mean, this is…you just…” He clears his throat as well, straightens his back, and gives her a gentle smile. “You look _beautiful_ , Vex’ahlia.”

Everytime he calls her by her full name, it feels like the first time she heard it fall from his lips, in that noble-as-you-please accent of his, in that surprisingly soothing timbre. Vex thinks she’s blushing even harder now.

“It just happened to fit rather well, I think,” she tells him, a little sheepishly.

But Percy is still smiling sweetly at her as he approaches, and Vex becomes glad for the layers of skirts the gown has; she thinks she feels her knees weaken a little at the way Percy is looking at her. “It suits you perfectly,” he answers, voice barely above a whisper.

Vex smooths her hands over her her hair in a vain attempt to stop blushing. “Thank you, dear,” she returns, “To whom did this belong anyway? Cassandra asked me to be _very_ careful with it.”

Percy lets out soft sigh, audible only because the room is quiet and they are alone here together. “It belonged to my mother,” he reveals, and it stills Vex’s movements. She watches him as he takes her appearance in, and a different kind of light joins the brightness in his eyes. She can’t help but wonder if maybe she and Cassandra should have instead had something new made for her. “This wasn’t what she wore when she married my father, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Percy continues, adding in a little laugh that Vex suspects might be for her benefit more than his, “But it was one of her favourites. Cassandra and I inherited our distaste for the obligations and arrogance of nobility from her, but she would never let it be said that she did not dress to impress. That being said, she rarely ever wore this; my memory might be hazy, but I only remember seeing her in this twice or thrice. Only for the most special of occasions. So I’m not surprised this is what Cassandra suggested you wear.”

“Even if it’s not _really_ a wedding?” Vex says, half-teasing.

Percy chuckles, shaking his head at her a little. “Even so,” he replies, “ _Especially_ so, perhaps; my mother would’ve been rather proud that her favorite gown was being used in such an elaborate ruse to appease the other branches of the family. Besides, just because the _ceremony_ is fake doesn’t mean your utter beauty is.”

Vex clucks her tongue at him, feeling herself colour yet again. She turns her back to him, examining herself in the mirror again to distract from the flush in her cheeks. “You _do_ go on, don’t you?” she giggles, “Almost makes me wish this was all happening for real.”

Percy gives her a look through the mirror, raising an eyebrow at her. “Does it now?” He smirks out of the corner of his mouth.

“I said ‘ _almost_ ,’” she points out, mirroring the expression on his face as she checks her make-up, “Because if this _were_ real, then you would have just cursed us badly because you saw the bride in her gown before the wedding.”

“I’m sure that’s not even the least bit true, darling,” Percy chuckles.

Vex turns around again, accepting that there’s nothing else on her that she can fix lest she actually end up ruining something. “ _You_ , of all people, should know better than to tempt fate, dear,” she retorts, poking at his chest. Percy laughs heartily, and Vex can’t help but join him. She takes to smoothening him out now, patting down his cravat and pulling this way and that at his coat. Percy just lets her, watching her with a gentle smile. “You don’t look so bad yourself, you know,” Vex tells him, “You are a _vision_ in this.”

“And you look like a dream,” Percy sighs in response, granting her a tiny kiss on her forehead. The little pleased hum she lets out at the contact is involuntary.

“You say the sweetest things, Percy,” she breathes, reaching out to brush some rogue hair away from his forehead, “Whoever gets you is going to be _very_ lucky.”

“Will they now?” Percy shoots back, “What if that person is you?”

Vex giggles as Percy’s arms circle around her. “Mmm yes, ‘ _what if_ ’ indeed,” she says contemplatively, “Would you _like_ it to be me?”

The smile on Percy’s face is absolutely dream-like. “I would _very_ much like it to be you,” he says, dipping his head just as Vex reaches up with hers. Their kiss is deep, but sweet and affectionate, and Vex thinks Percy is grinning into it. Her lip color might be messed up by this, but she finds she doesn’t care much. She pulls him closer, if that’s at all possible, by the scruff of his jacket, and with a loving sigh, he pulls her in tighter. Vex is convinced that if they didn’t need breath to live, they could stay this way forever. But another set of knocks on the door reminds her that they can’t, because they have something important they still need to do, that important thing being five minutes away from happening, as the voice on the other side of the door reminds them.

Percy is absolutely reluctant, almost _indignant_ even, as he pulls away from her. He is breathless, his chest heaving, kiss-swollen lips parted as he touches his forehead to hers. Vex can’t help but giggle at him.

“You know, you never did get to say why you came to see me,” she reminds him, and he laughs again. She loves when he laughs.

“No, you’re right,” Percy says, but then as he remembers the answer to this, he seems to sober up a little quickly. It worries Vex, especially when he puts a bit of distance between their bodies, although he takes her hands in his and rubs at the back of his palms with his thumbs. “I just…came to ask - Are you _sure_ you want to go through with this?”

Incredulous, Vex lets out a singular “ _Hah!_ ” Percy shrugs. “I know, it’s a bit late to ask, but I…I didn’t want to shoehorn you or force you into this just because some distant relatives of mine are annoyed that my family still has a hold on Whitestone. Because it won’t just be tonight, you know. It will be…well, _forever_ , really. For as long as they’re peering at us over here, we’ll have to keep up the pretense.”

Vex tries to shush him, placing a palm on his cheek. “We’ve _already_ talked about this, Percival,” she reminds him, “I’ve already said I would. And like I said before, I’m not just doing this for you, I’m doing this for Whitestone too. The De Rolos and Whitestone go together like…I don’t know, fish and water, maybe. And, well, I mean…we’re sort of here already, aren’t we? A bit late to back out now.”

“But I’d still _let_ you, if you so wished it,” Percy tells her, “This was never the most ideal of plans, after all.”

Vex shrugs. “Maybe not,” she agrees, “But when have we ever had good plans that actually worked?”

Percy’s expression eases into one of mirth. “You have a point there,” he answers.

Vex gives the hand she’s holding a squeeze. “Besides,” she says, moving her other hand to wipe her rouge from Percy’s lips, “Would it be so bad?”

Percy reaches up with his other hand, takes hers and plants a small kiss just above her wrist. “Would _what_ be so bad?”

Vex bites on the inside of her bottom lip. “Being married. To each other.”

Percy’s eyebrows rise slowly up his forehead, but as they do, the corners of his mouth move into a disbelieving grin. He watches her face for a few seconds, perhaps wondering if she’s just playing with him. Vex isn’t. Or at least, she’s rather sure that she isn’t. Percy seems to think so as well, because he lets out a gentle exhale and kisses her again.

“Only one way to find out, I think,” Percy replies. He steps away from her, putting one arm behind his back and offering her the other. Giggling, Vex links her arm with his. “You know, Vex, I do believe you just _proposed_ to me.”

Vex guffaws just as Percy opens the door to lead her out, startling Cassandra who has apparently been waiting for them at the doorway. “I _did_ do that, didn’t I?” she asks as they follow Cassandra down the hallway.

* * *

 


End file.
